LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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THE 



Religion of the Future. 



BY 



REV. DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D. D. 

3 1394J 




AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

IO EAST 23d STREET, NEW YORK. 



31 



COPYRIGHT, 1894, 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



CONTENTS. 



The Religion of the Future page 7 

A Wonderful Prayer 13 

Sanballat and Tobiah ; How They Hindered the Builders 21 

The Death Warrant of the Huguenots 29 

The Lepers of Samaria 39 

No Excuse for Unbelief 47 

The Church and the Saloon — — 56 

Hobab of Akaba ; or, Why Should I be a Member of the Church ? 66 

The Glory of this Mystery 74 

The Career of a Fast Young Man 81 

At the Horns of the Altar 89 

"We Three Kings of Orient Are:" A Christmas Meditation 97 

Sandals for the Journey: A New Year's Meditation 104 

The Duty of Fault-Finding 112 

The Branded Conscience 120 

The Holy Ghost 128 

Walking with God 137 

The Army of the Poor 145 

Nathan Hale 154 

St. Joan of Arc , 161 



4 CONTENTS. 

The Appeal to Caesar - 170 

The Crown of Thorns. 180 

Good Out of Nazareth 190 

The Resurrection Here and Now 199 

Simon of Cyrene 208 

Assurance 216 

Woe to Ariel 224 

A Text of Wonders — _ 232 

Why Should I Pray? 239 

How Shall I Pray? 247 

The American Sabbath 255 

The Barren Fig-Tree 265 

A Profitable Life - - 2 74 

Who is This That Cometh from Edom?— - 282 

Jonah at Nineveh s8 9 

The Ninevites in Judgment 2 97 



THE 

RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



" The old is better." Luke 5:39. 

We are immensely fond of saying that this is a pro- 
gressive age. It is true beyond all question. Fashions 
change over night. It is a great way from Watt's teakettle 
to the Baldwin locomotive, a great way from Franklin's 
kite to Edison's dynamos. Old things have passed away, 
all things have become new. The flint-lock musket, the 
spinning-wheel and the stage-coach are put away among 
the relics. We have new ways of doing things, new 
ways of thinking, new laws, new moral conceptions, new 
sciences and philosophies. Why should we not also 
have a new religion? There have been thousands of 
years of theological research and controversy since the 
old Bible was sealed with a finis. Must these go for 
nothing? Are we no wiser than our fathers respecting 
the great verities ? Is it not high time that our religion 
should be brought up abreast of the Zeitgeist? " When I 
was a child I thought as a child, spake as a child, under- 
stood as a child ; but when I became a man I put away 
childish things." The world has reached maturity. Ring 
out the old ! Ring in the new ! 

But let us be sure we are right. Religion is a matter 
of so great importance that we can afford to be deliberate 
about it. When William of Orange was crossing the 
Channel to assume the English crown he was greatly 



6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

weighed down by a sense of responsibility. It was a 
foggy night, and as he paced the deck he heard the cap- 
tain calling ever and anon to the man at the wheel, 
" Steady ! steady !" That was his watchword in after 
years. It is a good watchword for all who sail along the 
troubled seas of controversy in quest of truth. In a case 
whose issues reach out into eternity it is the manifest part 
of wisdom to make haste slowly. There are some things 
whose fashion never changes, such as air and water and 
sunshine. May not religion be of this sort? At any rate 
it behooves us, in this matter, to " prove all things, and 
hold fast that which is good." 

In any religion whatsoever there must be three pri- 
mary conceptions ; to wit, God, man, and the relation 
between them. The word religion is from the Latin re- 
ligare> meaning to bind back. Religion is that which 
restores the interrupted relations of the heavenly Father 
with his children. In the Religion of the Future — which 
the advanced thinkers of our time have projected for us — 
we have a new conception as to each of these fundamental 
facts. 

I. As to God. There is no danger of atheism. A 
hundred years ago a frenzy of that sort took possession 
of the people. In the Corps Legislatif of France it was 
solemnly resolved that God should be no more recognized 
in the affairs of the nation. His name was studiously pro- 
faned and his laws were violently trodden under foot. Then 
began the Reign of Terror. Mobs marched through the 
streets mingling blasphemies with their demands for bread 
and freedom. The heads of the nobility fell under the 
guillotine. The gutters of Paris ran with blood. Mean- 
while the legend, c< Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," stared 
in grim satire from the dead walls. Napoleon said to La 



THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. J 

Place, " I see no mention of God in your system of the- 
ology. " " No, sire," was the answer, " we have no lon- 
ger any need of that hypothesis." A half-century of 
anarchy and social disorder was the sequel. Montesquieu 
said, " God is as necessary as freedom to the welfare of 
France." One such experiment is enough. There will 
never be another serious attempt to dispense with God. 

But the drift of advanced thought in our time is 
towards an utter enfeeblement of God. He is represent- 
ed as law, all-pervading force, universal soul, a " some- 
thing not ourselves that maketh for righteousness." Lib- 
eral thinkers would depersonalize him, devitalize him. 
They would leave us a God without eyes to see, a heart 
to pity, or hands to help — the mere ghost of a God. 

i. There is no room here for Providence. It was 
Herder's beautiful thought that there are three emana- 
tions from Deity, namely, licht, leben, Hebe : that his light 
is manifest in the glory of nature, his life in organism and 
growth, and his love in the human soul. In the new the- 
ology there might be a lingering of divine light, some- 
what of life also ; but not by the wildest stretch of the 
imagination could an impersonal God be conceived as 
loving us. " He doth not see nor consider." 

2. Nor is there room for prayer. To what should 
one pray ? To force ? To star dust or bathybios ? Shall 
the weary and troubled address their misereres to the 
wild wind or to the primordial germ ? Jean Paul — in 
those dark days when France swung loose from all her 
moorings — came with his burden to the Venus of Milo in 
the Louvre. He clasped her feet and prayed ; he lifted 
his eyes, and lo, she had no arms to help ! The only 
answer to the prayer of one who rejects the great Father 
is silence. There is no voice nor answer. 



8 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

" And still the red sands fall within the glass, 
And still the shadows round the dial sweep, 
And still the water-clock doth drip and weep ; 
And that is all." 

II. As to Man. We have been accustomed to regard 
man as the masterpiece of God's creation. He formed 
him, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of an immor- 
tal life. Man is thus the child of God ; impressed with his 
image, able to confer with him respecting eternal things ; 
" having," as Carlyle says, "the geometry of heaven in his 
brain." But we are now asked to believe that man is the 
creature of circumstance, the product of certain condi- 
tions, such as air, food, nursing, medicines and education. 
He is a development from the lower orders — in accord- 
ance with the inviolate laws of heredity, natural selection 
and survival of the fittest. What then ? 

i. Then, of course, there can be no moral responsi- 
bility. For how can a creature of circumstance be re- 
sponsible to an impersonal God ? Sin is simply a disease 
of the nerve tissue. Medication must therefore supplant 
punishment. The ruffian who plunders your house or 
aims his dagger at your heart is no more to blame than 
your infant for falling out of its cradle. Men are what 
their environment makes them. A snail crawls into the 
road ; and the sun shrivels it or the wheels of the king's 
chariot crush it. So is a man in the grip of destiny. 

2. And there can be no immortality. For what is 
there to be immortal? The brain is phosphorus. 
Thought is the result of atomic friction. The soul is 
practically as material as the body ; and death gives the 
coup de grace to the whole man. The hope of life beyond 
the grave is an illusion. " Death ends all !" Go write it 
on the tombstones of those whom you have hoped to see 



THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 9 

again in a better world ; go write it across the family 
register in " the old ha' Bible " — the awful sentence that, in 
the Reign of Terror, was written across the archway of 
Pere la Chaise : Death Ends AIL And then return to 
your homes resolved to fill life full of careless mirth. 
Let us eat and drink and be merry : to-morrow we die ! 

3. No basis of character is left. For character stands 
on these two pillars, Responsibility and Immortality. 
Drag them down and the whole fabric falls asunder. We 
can understand now what Benjamin Franklin meant when, 
reading the proof-sheets of " The Age of Reason/' he said 
to its author, Thomas Paine, " Oh, friend Thomas, burn the 
book ! Do not unchain that tiger. If the American peo- 
ple are what they are under the beneficent influence of 
religion, what would the}'- be without it ?" 

III. As to the relation of man with God, We have 
been taught to believe that the filial harmony was dis- 
turbed ; that sin had opened a vast chasm between 
an outraged God and his rebellious children — a chasm 
bridged by the cross, by which we who were afar off are 
brought nigh again and permitted to enter into spiritual 
and eternal life. This is the " traditional " view. But it 
is ruled out of the new religion. The advanced views of 
our liberal theologians leave no place for it. 

1. The "old, old story " — so far as any real or exclu- 
sive power to save is concerned — must go. Our fathers 
made much of the blood : " The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth us from all sin ;" and " Without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission of sin." But there is no blood 
in the new religion. Such terms as satisfaction and ran- 
som and reconciliation are quite obsolete. The repellent 
aspects of " the butcher theory " of the atonement are all 
dispensed with, and the offence of the cross gives way to 



10 . THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

the sweetness and light of le bon Dieu and the beauty of 
ethical culture. 

2. Nor can creeds be tolerated. Dogmatism is abhor- 
rent to liberal minds. Credo is a worn out shibboleth. We 
used to think that a man was scarcely a vertebrate unless 
he could lay his hand on something and say, " I believe 
this." There were those who took pleasure in the historic 
creeds of Christendom. We were wont to comfort our- 
selves in such assurances as " I know that my Redeemer 
liveth," and " I know whom I have believed, and that he 
is able to keep that which I have committed unto him 
until that day." In fact, however, we know nothing, we 
can believe nothing. " For modes of faith let graceless 
zealots fight." We may surmise, hope, venture an opin- 
ion ; but as to believing or dogmatizing, the time for that 
has gone by. " I know nothing," as Fichte says ; " not even 
that I know nothing." All assertions must be made with 
a qualifying " Perhaps" or "It maybe." This is lib- 
eralism. Anything else is bigotry. 

3. And the Bible must go. We are given to under- 
stand that it is already on the way. Is not the Mosaic 
cosmogony disproven ? And the narratives of the Flood, 
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah and the 
Ninevites, Job, Daniel in Babylon, are they not shown by 
our Biblical experts to be mere fables, Jesus to the con- 
trary notwithstanding? The historical portions of the 
Old Testament are, upon the same authority, as untrust- 
worthy as Diedrich Knickerbocker. And the prophecies 
are no better ; " the great body of Messianic prophecy " 
being unfulfilled, and impossible of fulfilment " because its 
time has passed by." Thus the Book must be put away 
among the other musty parchments ol the olden time. 
Farewell, old Book ! Thou hast been a beacon to men 



THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. II 

and nations through all the centuries. In thy clear light 
the world has grown purer and holier. Under thy gra- 
cious influence truth and justice and benevolence have 
gladdened the desert wastes. But thou hast been a fetish 
long enough. Farewell ! The world has outlived thee. 

But how dark it is ! The sun is gone, the moon ex- 
tinguished, the stars out. The world is left to grope be- 
wildered in unbroken gloom. All hope and gladness 
have vanished. The voices of God himself, which we 
have been wont to hear in nature and providence, in 
heaven above and earth beneath, are hushed. We have 
come to the silence and solitude of an Egyptian night. 

But, beloved, this shall never be ! By God's grace 
this shall never be ! The hands upon the dial move 
forward from the morning of creation to the millennia] 
noon. God lives and reigns and keeps watch above his 
own ! 

The religion of the Scriptures was adjusted in the 
beginning to all possible mutations of time. Nothing has 
occurred which its divine Author did not anticipate. 
The Spirit of God is the spirit in the wheels of progress. 
When Cardinal Richelieu was superintending the re- 
moval of his ancestral chateau, preparatory to the building 
of a magnificent palace, he bade the workmen spare the 
inner chamber of the house. It was there his eyes had 
first opened to the light ; there his mother had lulled him 
to sleep upon her breast. He could not see it destroyed, 
but required his architect to conform the plans of his 
palace to that sacred room. Thus the great temple ol 
progress, rising splendidly about us, has the birth-cham- 
ber at its centre. There shines the benignant glory of the 
cross. Around that inner sanctuary, with its Ark of the 
Covenant, the glorious fabric rises. The old truths stand : 



12 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

God himself is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
All abiding things have their centre in him. 

It is related of Lord Chesterfield that, while visiting 
Paris, he was entertained at the table of a distinguished 
lady of the Encyclopedia, a bitter foe of Christianity. 
She said to him, " My lord, I am informed that your 
English Parliament is composed of five or six hundred of 
the most profound and brilliant thinkers : this being so, 
will you explain to me how you account for the fact that, 
under their authority, the obsolete religion of the Naza- 
rene Carpenter is still maintained as the religion of the 
realm?" " Madam," he replied, "it is a mere temporary 
makeshift. We are casting about for something better ; 
when that is discovered Christianity must give way." 

Ah, the world has been casting about during all these 
centuries for something better and has not found it. Un- 
devout thinkers will continue to search for the better re- 
ligion by the light of the midnight oil ; kings and poten- 
tates may search for it, as they have often done, by the 
light of Smithfield fires and autos-da-fe. And meanwhile 
men and women will go on loving and believing in Jesus : 
troubled souls will run to him for succor and deliverance ; 
sinners will search the old Bible for the hope of deliver- 
ance and find it at the cross ; and the kings of the earth 
will bring their glory and honor unto him. The song 
oi the redeemed below will swell louder and louder, and 
the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters 
cover the sea. And then it will be known that the Re- 
ligion of the Future is none other than the blessed old 
religion of Bethlehem and Calvary, of the open sepul- 
chre and the endless life. 



A WONDERFUL PRAYER. 13 



A WONDERFUL PRAYER. 



11 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, 
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; 
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being 
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with 
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
height ; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, 
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Ephesians 
3:14-19. 

A man of prayer is a man of power. To bow before 
God is like bending to drink from a flowing brook. It 
renews our strength. It puts omnipotence at our com- 
mand. 

" A good man's prayers 

Will from the deepest dungeon climb to heaven's height 

And bring a blessing down." 

It is prayer that "makes the world go round." An 
ocean steamer holds its way calmly and steadily towards 
its desired haven because down in the engine-room the 
stokers are at work, grimy and stripped to the waist, 
feeding the furnaces. Who knows what would happen 
to this old world of ours were it not for the multitude of 
earnest people who, in the secret place, are earnestly 
pleading for its welfare ! 

The man of our text was a prisoner. He had been 
sent to the Praetorian camp in chains for preaching the 
gospel of Christ. His enemies thought to end his in- 
fluence in that way. Ah, love laughs at locksmiths ! 



14 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

There's no cutting the sinews of a devout man. You 
may put the cabalistic " H. R." after his name in the 
roster, but it 's another matter to " honorably retire " him. 
If you lay him on a sick bed, his patience will be as elo- 
quent as Chrysostom. Banish him to a desert island, he 
will plant aromatic herbs there whose fragrance will be 
wafted far and wide. Kill him, bury him, roll a stone 
against his sepulchre, and his memory, like the ghost of 
John the Baptist, will walk up and down with messages 
of truth. 

So this apostle, with a chain on either arm, was still 
by virtue of his prayers, a mighty power for good. His 
devout heart was like a galvanic battery ; it enabled him, 
despite all hindrances, to commune with distant friends 
and influence their destinies. He is praying, here, for his 
former parishioners at Ephesus. It is a wonderful prayer. 
Its earnest words come tumbling over each other, like 
heralds hastening from battle to carry news of victory. 

The one thing desired is strength : " I pray that ye 
may be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in 
the inner man." In Paul's opinion a Christian had no 
right to be weak. To Timothy, his spiritual son, he wrote, 
" Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is 
in Christ Jesus." To the Colossians, "We desire that ye 
might be strengthened with all might according to his 
glorious power unto all patience, and long-suffering, and 
joyfulness." To the Corinthians, " Watch ye, stand fast 
in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." And again 
to the Ephesians, " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the 
Lord and in the power of his might." To be strong is a 
duty; therefore to be weak is a sin. "Why art thou 
lean, being the king's son?" 

The strength here prayed for is spiritual strength ; 



A WONDERFUL PRAYER. I 5 

strength " in the inner man." Paul makes much of this 
inner man. <; Though our outward man perish, yet the 
inward man is renewed day by day." The outward man 
is but the frail tabernacle of the inward man ; death, like 
a simoom, rends the tent to tatters, but the man himself, 
the real man, lives on. They say that Bismarck has been 
smitten with paralysis ; that he goes about with faltering 
steps, his right arm dangling at his side : but whisper to 
him " Sedan !" or " Alsace-Lorraine !" and see his form 
straighten and his eye flash. His age falls from him like 
a garment. The eye of " the inner man " is still bright, 
and his natural force unabated. And this is the divine, 
the immortal man. 

The day came when Paul was led out along the road 
towards Ostia to his execution. There were priests and 
beggars and Arab merchants and sailors and camel- 
drivers who turned to look. What they saw was an 
armed guard with a Jewish culprit in chains ; a man of 
11 mean presence " outwardly, but destined to walk through 
history like a giant. The place was reached ; there was 
the flash of a heavy sword ; a head fell from the block ; 
" There 's an end of this zealot," said the executioner to 
his men. Little they knew ! The real Paul cannot be 
slain. He is destined to be heard from. The " inner 
man " will walk up and down in Church councils, a partici- 
pant in all great theological controversies, until the end of 
time. His death is but the widening of his parish. 

" Out of sight sinks the stone 
In the deep sea of time, but the circles sweep on !" 

It is this inner man, therefore, which should engross 
our care. " Why take ye thought, saying, What shall we 
eat, or, What shall we drink, or, Wherewithal shall we be 



l6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

clothed?" To expend our solicitude upon our physical 
wants is as foolish as it was for Nero to busy himself in 
drawing sand for the arena while his kingdom was falling 
asunder. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of the 
outward man as the flower of grass. Character is the 
abiding thing. " I marvel, O Athenians," said Socrates 
in the market-place, " that ye pamper and adorn your 
bodies, while the immortal part of you starves and shiv- 
ers !" 

This prayer of Paul for the strengthening of the inner 
man is followed by three specific desires, each involving a 
great mystery. To partake of these mysteries is to pos- 
sess one's self of wisdom and power ; to enter cordially 
into them is to grow unto the full stature of manhood in 
Christ. 

First mystery : the indwelling of Christ. " That 
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." This is dis- 
tinctly a Christian tenet. Who ever heard of the indwell- 
ing Buddha or of the indwelling Mohammed ? Our Lord 
frequently dwelt upon this precious truth. As in the par- 
able of the Vine and its Branches : " He that abideth in 
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for 
without me ye can do nothing." As when he said to 
Jude : " If a man love me, he will keep my words : and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him." As in his sacerdotal prayer 
for his disciples : " I in them and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one; that the love wherewith 
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." And 
as in the blessed promise : " Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock ; if any man will hear my voice and open the 
door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he 
with me." 



A WONDERFUL PRAYER. 1 7 

The clew to this mystery is faith : " that Christ may 
dwell in your hearts by faith" Faith is the hand out- 
stretched to draw the bolt, to lift the latch, to open the 
door and let Christ in. To thus welcome Christ is to 
make certain our growth in spiritual life. To appro- 
priate him is to partake of his omnipotence. To be- 
lieve is to be strong : " according to your faith be it unto 
you." 

It is related by Mr. Moody that, after having his 
name on the church roster for more than twenty years, he 
became convinced that there was something beyond, a 
glorious measure of ability and usefulness to which he 
had not attained ; and for this he began to pray. One 
night, immediately following the Chicago fire, he walked 
the streets pleading for the gift of the Holy Ghost and 
power. At a late hour he retired to his room and fell 
upon his knees resolved that there should be no more 
reservation; that the last bolt should be drawn and 
the door thrown wide to the waiting Christ. Then the 
blessing came — came so plentifully that he found himself 
walking up and down his room crying, " O Lord, stay 
now thy hand! No more, no more!" And since that 
night the constant blessing of heaven has been upon his 
work ; insomuch that, as he humbly testifies, no service in 
all these years has passed without its garnering of fruits. 
And is not this possible, under like conditions, to every 
follower of Christ ? Oh for willingness to be strong : to 
bid the Saviour enter and wholly possess us ! 

Second mystery : the knowledge of the love of Christ. 
" That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be 
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, 
and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the love 
of Christ, which passeth knowledge." 
2 



1 8 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

The greatest thing in the universe is GocPs love in 
Jesus Christ. Who shall measure it ? " There 's a wide- 
ness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea," It 
would appear that Paul is here making, for the benefit of 
the Ephesian Christians, a comparison of this love with 
the dimensions of their own temple of Diana. That mag- 
nificent fabric was four hundred and twenty feet long and 
above two hundred wide, its arches resting upon one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven monoliths each sixty feet in height. 
It was a proverb, " The sun in its journey sees nothing 
more glorious than the Ephesian temple." Yet it fur- 
nished but a mean figure for this comparison. To what 
shall God's love be likened ? Its length is through all 
ages ; its breadth is the latitude of the universe ; its pro- 
fundity is unfathomable, and its dome is glorious with 
celestial light. The smallest word in that great sentence, 
" God so loved the world," is larger than all human phi- 
losophy. And yet this mighty truth may be grasped ; 
this unknowable may be known. 

How ? What is the clew of this mystery ? It is here 
given: "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may 
be able to comprehend." Love alone can comprehend 
love. It cannot be reached by objective analysis. How 
do we know the light ? By studying Tyndall's essays ? 
Nay, rather by seeing the sun come forth like a bride- 
groom from his chamber, climb to the zenith by ever 
brightening steps and go down again to his couch amid 
the crimson glories. The thing that we know becomes a 
part of us. Apprehension is putting the hand to a thing ; 
comprehension is closing the hand around it. A man 
may easily understand the chemistry of water yet die for 
want of a cup of it. 

A letter comes to me from a dear old-fashioned friend, 



A WONDERFUL PRAYER. 19 

written in stilted phrases and a cramped hand. You read 
it and smile ; there 's nothing there for you. Ah, but she's 
not your mother. Give me the letter, now ; how it warms 
my heart and bedews my eyes ! Love only can compre- 
hend love. God's goodness is Sanscrit to all but his chil- 
dren. If you would understand, you must yourself be 
" rooted " in it, like a tree drawing its life from a fountain 
beneath the hills. If you would comprehend, you must 
be " grounded " on it, like a temple resting on a rock. 
Love is the clew of the mystery of love. 

Third mystery : " That ye might be filled with all the 
fulness of God." To be thus filled is to be satisfied. In 
him are all the riches of wisdom and knowledge. At his 
right hand are pleasures for evermore. Whosoever has 
possessed himself of God can want no more. " In hym ye 
ben fylled." What is this — the fulness of God ? The ful- 
ness of God dwelling in the soul of a mortal man ! 

And how shall we enter into possession of it ? The 
clew of this greatest of mysteries awaits us in the heaven- 
ly realms. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him. In that day we 
shall know. In that day we shall be satisfied. The di- 
vine glory will flood our souls, and we shall be filled with 
the fulness of God. 

Meanwhile it is ours to long and aspire. If we may 
not realize the vast possibilities of Christian life and use- 
fulness we may at the least covet them earnestly, and ap- 
proach them nearer every day. Blessed are they that 
hunger and thirst ; for they shall be filled. 

If we fall short of our full privilege it is not because of 
any reluctance on God's part. He is willing to bless unto 
the uttermost. Large prayers honor him. When a cer- 



20 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

tain follower of King Philip asked, as a reward for some 
signal service, the revenues of an Asian province, the 
prime minister cried out at the presumption ; but the king 
said, " Let his request be granted. His bold demand 
honors my magnanimity. ,, Thus God is pleased by large 
drafts upon his goodness. " Open your mouths wide," 
he says, " and I will fill them." Let us be eager, like the 
devotees of Eleusis, to enter into the mysteries. To have 
Christ dwelling in us, to know the love of God that pas- 
seth knowledge, and to hold up one's heart like a chalice 
to be filled at the infinite Fountain — this is to be strength- 
ened with might in the inner man. And going on from 
grace to grace, from glory to glory, we shall know at 
length what this means : to be filled with all the fulness of 
God. 



SANBALLAT AND TOBIAH. 2 1 

SANBALLAT AND TOBIAH; HOW THEY 
HINDERED THE BUILDERS. 



u It came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians 

and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair- 

t ing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward (R. V.) then they 

were very wroth, and they conspired all of them together to 

hinder it." Nehemiah 4:7. 

One moonlight night, 445 B. C, a man accompanied 
by a modest retinue rode through the streets of Jerusalem. 
He was profoundly moved by the desolation on every 
side — for " the walls of the city were broken down and the 
gates thereof were burned with fire." This was the cup- 
bearer or prime minister of Artaxerxes, who had come all 
the way from Persia to inspect " the city of his fathers' 
sepulchres." He had heard a rumor that " the remnant 
of the captivity," that is, such as remained in Jerusalem 
after the successive deportations, had been prevented by 
the intimidations of their foes from rebuilding the ruined 
walls. He besought the king's permission and repaired at 
once to Jerusalem. " And I arose in the night," he says, 
" and some few men with me ; neither told I any man 
what God had put into my heart to do." He rode out 
towards the south into the valley of Hinnom, turned 
northward past the Pool of Siloam, then westward and 
southward, and so, completing the circuit, entered again 
by the valley gate. And wherever he went there was 
naught but desolation, dust and ashes ; debris filling the 
streets. The next morning he summoned the priests and 
nobles and laid the matter plainly before them. " Up, let 



22 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

us build/' said he, " that we be no more a reproach. " He 
recited the Lord's goodness and assured them of his bless- 
ing, saying, " The God of heaven, he will prosper us." 
The rulers were stimulated by his earnest words, and an- 
swered with one accord, " Let us rise up and build !" 

Our life is structural. We walk in the midst of ruins. 
Human nature is a ruin; magnificent in its decay, but 
still a ruin. Its dreary solitudes are haunted by the lin- 
gering echoes of past songs and prayers. Over its crum- 
bling archway is an inscription, " Here once dwelt God." 
The prime duty of every man is to restore this lonely ruin 
to its pristine glory. This is character building : to pre- 
pare the soul for the indwelling of the Spirit of God. 

Society, also, is in ruins. The work of the rebuilder 
is sadly needed. Evil lusts and appetites, like toads and 
adders, hide under the mould. Envy and malice and self- 
ishness, like owls and bitterns, make their nests among 
the crumbling arches. A new science is born in these 
days called sociology, whose function is to repair the waste 
places of human fellowship. It is indeed a higher sort of 
architecture, a true edification, or temple building ; and it 
behooves all earnest men to engage in it. 

The world itself is a ruin. So fair at creation that 
God, beholding, pronounced it " very good," it has 
been so ravaged by sin that yonder moon, burnt over 
long centuries ago, is not more scarred or unsightly. The 
trail of the serpent is over all. The cross was reared for 
its redemption nineteen hundred years ago and still there 
are sixteen hundred millions of its inhabitants who dwell 
in darkness and the shadow of death. Here indeed is 
work for the builder. The kingdom of God rises so slow- 
ly. The laborers are so few. Oh, men of Israel, let us rise 
and build ! 



SANBALLAT AND TOBIAH. 23 

There are multitudes of people who seem actuated 
by no nobler purpose than to make life yield its utmost of 
enjoyment; who go through the world as tramps go 
through a village, in at one end and out at the other, with 
all their possessions in a bundle over their shoulders, ask- 
ing only a hedge to sleep under and provisions by the 
way. But life is worth living only for what it promises of 
the life beyond. Blessed is the man who can interpret 
aright these cabalistic words on the moss-grown portal of 
Melrose : 

" The earth goes on the earth glittering with gold ; 
The earth goes on the earth sooner than it should ; 
The earth builds on the earth castles and towers ; 
The earth says to the earth, 'All this is ours.'" 

The wise man is he who is ever building and who, like 
Piso, " builds for eternity." 

Here is the difficulty, however : the moment a man 
undertakes to build — in the glorious fabric of character, 
for the betterment of the community or the setting up of 
righteousness on earth — the adversary draws near. 

I. Open hostility. " Now when Sanballat and Tobiah 
heard that our hands were strengthened for the work 
they said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel 
against the king ?" Rebellion ! Aye. A good life is 
in downright defiance of the prince of this world. Moral 
earnestness is treason against the evil one. It is not to 
be expected, therefore, that a builder on Zion's walls 
should be unmolested. Is the servant greater than his 
Lord ? " If they have hated me," said Jesus, " shall they 
not also hate you ?" 

The Lord be praised that the days of the ax and fagot, 
of blood council and Inquisition, have gone by ! But 
there are current modes of opposition as effective as rack 



^4 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

or thumbscrew. The voice of calumny is not hushed. 
The moral boycott is in force. Do you urge the tem- 
perance reform ? You are a fanatic. Are you in favor 
of Sabbath observance? You are a puritanical bigot. 
Do you lift your voice in behalf of pure politics ? You 
are a mugwump. It is an uncomfortable thing to fall out 
with the fashion any way. 

It is recorded of St. Anthony, the father of mona- 
chism, that being persecuted for righteousness' sake he 
took refuge in a cave by the river Nile ; but there the red 
eyes of devils leered upon him, the air was resonant with 
epithets, snares were spread before his feet, not a moment 
was he permitted to rest. We also have our St. Anthony, 
as worthy of canonization as any old-time ascetic. He 
has made himself obnoxious to the Arabians and the 
Ammonites and the Ashdodites by his unceasing hostil- 
ity to social vices. Threats, personal violence, and im- 
prisonment are the least of his sufferings. For years he 
has stood up under an unremitting rain of detraction and 
misrepresentation. In his endeavor to suppress the cir- 
culation of obscene literature through the United States 
mails he was forced to confront the violent opposition of 
fifty thousand infidel friends of so-called " personal liber- 
ty." No epithets have been too vile to apply to him. And 
bearing this with Christian patience, modesty and fortitude 
he has gone upon his way. God bless this valiant re- 
former ! This is the stuff that nineteenth century saints 
are made of. 

II. But the resources of the enemy are not exhausted 
in open hostility. If they cannot hinder the work of the 
builders by angry denunciation they will laugh them out 
of it. It is related that, when Sanballat and Tobiah were 
made aware of the futility of their threats by the sound of 



sanballaT and tobiah. 25 

trowels upon the ruined walls, they " took great indigna- 
tion." They stood under the walls, within hearing of 
the Samaritan army, and made sport of the builders. 

" What do these feeble Jews ?" asked Sanballat. " Is 
it a fortification that they build, or an altar for sacrifice? 
Will they revive the stones of this rubbish heap ? And 
will they finish the work to-day, or to-morrow, think you ?" 

" Ha, ha !" laughed Tobiah, glancing towards the 
workmen ; " it 's a wall, I reckon ; but if a fox should run 
over it he would break it down!" 

Then a burst of laughter echoed from the hillsides 
where the Samarites stood beholding. 

" Hearken, O God ! For we are despised, and they 
provoke thee to anger." Thus Nehemiah raised his 
voice in prayer. And God heard, and enheartened the 
people ; aiid the work went on. 

Was ever a man in earnest yet without provoking de- 
rision ? More people die of ridicule than of poison, or 
cholera, or cannon-balls. Was the world ever yet will- 
ing that a poor fellow should rebuild character out of the 
dust and ashes of a mislived past? " Oh, come now," 
say his companions ; " a glass wont hurt you. Do n't be 
a chump. Going to join the Holy Club ? Ha, ha ! 
Come on !" But, God bless the struggler ! In the church 
at Treviso is a chain with the imprint of a finger on it. 
They say that one night Emiliani awoke in his dungeon 
and saw an angel standing near. "Arise and be free," 
said the angel ; and at his touch the prisoner's chain fell 
off. The Angel of Deliverance is ever near. God helps 
the man who helps himself. A word of prayer, 
" Hearken, O God !" is answered by the sound of 
breaking chains. 

The man likewise who busies himself for the better- 



26 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ment of the community must expect to be made sport of. 
The dives will keep open and vice will rustle past, and 
magistrates — God save the mark !— will chuckle, " What 
are you going to do about it ?" Something of that sort 
happened when the ruddy son of Jesse went down into 
the valley of Elah. The Israelites smiled at his presump- 
tion, the Philistines roared at him, his own brethren 
guyed him, saying, " Go back to your sheep in the wil- 
derness !" and the giant shouted, " Am I a dog, that thou 
comest to me with staves ?" But when the ruddy youth 
came up from the valley dragging after him Goliath's 
gory head, ah, then the surrounding hills reechoed his 
praises ! The man who succeeds is derided no more. 

An enterprise along the broader lines of evangeliza- 
tion is sure to provoke the world's contempt. William 
Cary, for proposing the missionary conquest of India, was 
dubbed " the consecrated cobbler;" but the universal 
church does him reverence to-day. What shouts of 
laughter greeted the early efforts of the Salvation Army : 
the drum and tambourine and flag of blood and fire were 
quite vulgar. But now — ah, God and time make all 
things right. We are glad to pause and hearken, and say, 
"God bless them !" when the procession goes past on its 
way to the slums, singing, 

" He 's the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star ; 
He's the fairest often thousand to my soul !" 

III. One thing still remains for Sanballat and Tobiah 
when open enmity and ridicule have failed. " Gome, let 
us meet together in the valley of Ono," they say ; " why 
should we quarrel ? Let us talk matters over and arrange 
a truce." 

There is nothing more dangerous to holy resolution 



SANBALLAT AND TOBIAH. 2J 

than this — the temptation to compromise. Compromise 
never won a good cause yet. Our country has suffered 
from it. Our missionary boards have suffered from it. 
" Nothing is settled," said Abraham Lincoln, " until it is 
settled right." There is no neutral ground, no valley of 
Ono, in matters of spiritual import. 

Where shall we compromise? In questions pertain- 
ing to truth ? Nay, the truth against the world ! 

In matters of conscience ? Nay, let the old Roman 
answer, " Fiat justitia, ruat ccelum /" Do right, though 
the heavens come rattling down about you. 

In our devotion to the Master's cause ? Nay, " Sell 
all that thou hast and come and follow me." Our Lord 
demands an entire surrender and faithfulness unto death — 
faithfulness like that of the lighthouse-keeper at Minot 
Ledge. The storm had raged all day; at evening the 
lights were kindled and the bell struck the passing hours. 
The people watching from the shore saw the lighthouse 
swaying like a bulrush in the storm. Still the light 
shone and the bell rang through the mist. At length a 
mighty wave rolled in over the reef. The people looked 
and listened : the light was out — the bell was hushed. 
Thus may Death find us all at the post of duty ! 

The watchword of Israel in those days of trial was, 
" Remember the Lord !" The guards repeated it as they 
patrolled the walls ; the workmen cheered each other on 
with that brave countersign, " Remember the Lord — the 
Lord that delivered his servants from the fiery furnace 
and from Pharaoh's host !" Fifty-two days were they 
rebuilding the ruins ; and then they marched about the 
streets waving lulab branches and singing, " Oh that men 
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his won- 
derful works to the children of men!" 



28 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Up, brethren, and let us build. Let us repair the 
waste places of our personal character, of society, and of 
this sin-cursed world. If God be for us, who shall be 
against us ? " Stand fast, Craig Ellachie !" The day of 
rejoicing will come. Our Lord Zerubbabel will bring 
forth the headstone of the corner and lay it amid shout- 
ings of saints and angels, " Grace, grace unto it !" 



THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. 29 



THE 

DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUE- 
NOTS.* 



M And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the 
souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the 
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, 
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Rev. 
6:9, 10. 

In 1450 A. D. the Mazarin Bible made its appearance. 
This was a notable event. A copy of the Scriptures had 
previously cost a sum of money equal to a year's wages 
of a laboring man. The Word was now within the reach 
of all. The thing looked like witchcraft. The copies on 
comparison were found to be precisely uniform — more 
evidence of the black art. The publication was traced to 
the workshop of Faust, who was arrested and cast into 
prison ; nor was he released until he revealed the secret 
of his magic art. 

The people now began to read. The weaver at his 
loom, the shoemaker at his bench, took pleasure in the 
sacred book. It was a great day for common folk. The 
entrance of God's word gave light. But that way lay 
danger to the Holy See. One of the cardinals said, " A 

* Preached by Dr. Burrell on the 208th anniversary of the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 



3<D THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

book has fallen into the hands of the people — a book of 
brambles, and vipers in them." 

In France the Bible readers were called Huguenots 
from a word used in the nursery like Bogy, or Bugaboo. 
The name meant night-walkers, and its pertinency was 
due to the fact that when the day's work was over these 
simple people were wont to meet in retired places to read 
together the blessed Word of Life. 

The story of the Huguenots covers about two centu- 
ries. It may, for convenience, be divided into three pe- 
riods. 

The first period begins with the accession of Francis 
I., in the year 151 5. At the outset he was disposed to 
toleration, but was soon moved by papal argument to 
pledge himself to the extirpation of heresy. 

A wool-carder of Meaux, named Jean Le Clerc, had 
come into possession of a New Testament. He became 
convinced, by reading this, of the sinfulness of image- 
worship and of the confessional. He tore down a papal 
bull on indulgences from the door of the parish church 
and posted instead a figure of the pope as Antichrist. 
He was taken to Paris and condemned for heresy. He 
was scourged through the streets and branded on the 
forehead with the fleur-de-lis. He was then released, 
only to be rearrested for having a Bible in his possession. 
His right hand was cut off at the wrist, his arms were 
broken, the eyes that had looked upon the forbidden page 
were gouged out ; then he was taken to the stake : as the 
fagots were kindled his head was encircled with red-hot 
iron. A voice in the company was heard to say, " Stand 
firm, O witness for the truth !" It was his mother's voice ; 
and while the fervid metal was eating its way to the brain 
he calmly repeated, " Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 



THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. 3 1 

and to the Holy Ghost. Amen ;" then his voice was 
stifled. This was the proto-martyr of the Reformation in 
France. 

The witnesses came in quick succession, by scores 
and hundreds, to the axe and the fagot, or to be broken 
on the wheel. There were bonfires of Bibles, kindled by 
order of the Sorbonne, in public places. The works of 
the reformers were committed to the flames. The time 
would fail me to tell of those who at this period " had trial 
of cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and impris- 
onment ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented ; of whom 
the world was not worthy." 

The Huguenots contented themselves with a warfare 
of placards, called Pasquinades, which were posted by 
night. One of them may be given by way of illustration. 
It was affixed to the door of the king's bedchamber : 

" I invoke heaven and earth in testimony of the truth 
against that proud and impious papal Mass, which (unless 
it be overthrown) is destined to destroy France. For 
therein is the Lord blasphemed. There is no sacrifice 
but One, namely, Jesus Christ, who was offered once for 
all. But, behold, our land is flooded with wretched 
priests who proclaim that Jesus Christ must be uplifted 
and sacrificed over and over again, even while in their 
vespers they chant that he is a Priest for ever after the 
order of Melchizedek. Wherefore they themselves, in 
spite of themselves, do admit that the pope and all his 
brood of cardinals and canting priests, with all who con- 
sent thereto, are false prophets, apostates, damnable de- 
ceivers, wolves in sheep's clothing, execrable liars and 
blasphemers, murderers of souls, renouncers of Jesus 
Christ, and robbers of the honor of God. I demand of 
them whether the sacrifice of Jesus Christ v/as perfect or 



32 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

not ; if imperfect, why do they deceive the people ? if 
perfect, why do they repeat it ? Come forward, ye blas- 
phemers, and answer if ye can." 

The king and the priesthood were beside themselves 
with fury. The Pasquinades appeared in the most pre- 
posterous places. At length an edict was issued prohib- 
iting this use of the printing-press on penalty of death. 
It was too late, quite too late ; as well might a cricket have 
chirped against the roll of heaven's thunder* 

Then came the Estrapades, a refinement of cruelty 
which seems incredible in these enlightened days. In the 
Place before the Cathedral of Notre Dame the unfortu- 
nates who persisted in reading the Scriptures, or who 
were suspected of preparing the placards, were suspended 
by chains over slow fires. In their last anguish they sup- 
ported one another with Scriptural promises and exhorta- 
tions to fidelity. This led to further atrocities. The 
tongues of the victims were now torn out before the flames 
were kindled. God is a sure paymaster. The hour of 
retribution drew nigh. The perpetrators of these horrors 
had sown the wind ; they were destined to reap the whirl- 
wind. 

The second period, which may be characterized as the 
period of Massacre, begins with the accession of Charles IX. 
in the year 1559. He was a mere boy, and the govern- 
ment was in the hands of his mother, Catharine de' Medici, 
in alliance with the Guises. At this time the Bible read- 
ers had so multiplied, despite their persecutions, that Car- 
dinal de St. Croix said, " France is half Huguenot." The 
Admiral Coligny wrote to the queen mother, " We have 
more than two thousand churches and four hundred thou- 
sand men able to bear arms." It was apparent that this 
" heresy"could not be extirpated by picking off the heretics 



THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. 33 

one by one. They must be slain en masse, by groups and 
congregations. 

The Duke of Guise, leading his armed followers through 
the village of Vassy, heard the singing of hymns. A party 
of Huguenots were gathered in a barn for divine service. 
The rude sanctuary was invested by the duke's men at 
arms ; the signal was given, and for an hour they hacked 
and stabbed the unresisting worshippers. There upon the 
floor lay sixty dead and two hundred more wrestling with 
death. Along rode the duke towards Paris, where, the 
news having gone before him, he was welcomed by the 
clergy with Te Deums and hailed as the deliverer of 
France. 

Then Catharine de' Medici and the Duke of Alva met 
on the borders of Spain. It was a significant conference. 
The world was divided between them for the destruction 
of heresy. Alva took the Netherlands and commenced 
that fierce campaign of blood and fire in which the Beg- 
gars of Holland made themselves immortal as champions 
of the faith. France was assigned to Catharine. She 
hastened to her task. The king was entreated day and 
night to sign the death sentence of the Huguenots. At 
last, wearied by importunity, he signed, saying, " Let the 
work be done so thoroughly that no Huguenot shall sur- 
vive to shake his finger at me." At dead of night, the 
awful night of August 24, 1572, the bell of St Germain 
sounded, and the royal guards, wearing white stars and 
crosses on their hats, were let loose upon the defenceless 
people. The Duke of Guise himself murdered the aged 
Coligny, whom all France revered as a noble and spotless 
man. The king, from one of the galleries of the Louvre, 
aimed his arquebus at the panic-stricken crowd. The tiger 
was let loose at daybreak ; the streets were filled with mu- 
3 



34 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

tilated corpses ; the gutters ran red. Three days the 
massacre continued, not in Paris alone but in many of the 
rural towns and villages. One hundred thousand of the 
best people of France were slain ! 

The news was brought to Rome ; the bells rang cheer- 
ily, and cannon boomed from the castle of San Angelo. It 
is vain to deny the responsibility of his Holiness for this 
awful deed. What is written is written. On the wall of the 
Sistine Chapel was for many years a commemorative fresco, 
painted by the Pope's order, with the inscription, " Pontifex 
Colinii Necem Probat ;•" that is, "The Pope approves Colig- 
ny's murder." A medal was struck in commemoration of 
this event, copies of which are still extant, bearing the 
effigy of Pope Gregory and on the reverse a picture of the 
massacre — an angel with a cross in the left hand and a sword 
in the right, and underneath the words " Ugonottorum 
Strages, 1572 " — " The Massacre of the Huguenots, 1572." 

God is a sure paymaster. The time would surely come 
when the Romish church would rue this baptism of blood. 

" God's mills grind slow 
But they grind woe." 

The last period of this eventful history begins with the 
accession of Henry IV., in the year 1598. Henry the 
Fourth was a Huguenot, and at once issued a manifesto 
permitting the reading of the Scriptures and the exercise 
of the individual conscience in the worship of God. The 
Pope protested. "A decree giving liberty of conscience," 
said he, " is the most accursed that could be made." For 
twelve blessed years the land had rest. Then Henry was 
assassinated and discord broke out. The Government fell 
into the hands of Marie de' Medici with the Cardinal Riche- 
lieu as her mighty ally. Ominous names ! An attempt 
was made to destroy heresy by offering a price for the 



THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. 35 

conversion of each Huguenot. Failing in that the Dragon- 
nades were instituted. All the Huguenot ministers were 
doomed to immediate exile ; no others were allowed to 
emigrate ; the schools were closed ; the Bible readers were 
ordered to recant or die. An order was issued for the 
destruction of the Huguenot churches. All children must 
now be baptized by the parish priest. The dying must re- 
ceive priestly absolution, otherwise the body was removed 
by the common hangman and flung into the public sewer. 

The people fled Fin multitudes. In vain were guards 
stationed along the seashore and borders ; in vain did 
ships of war go cruising up and down. Those who 
were caught attempting to fly were sentenced to the gal- 
leys for life. Still the persecuted fled over the trackless 
wastes, and through the forests by unfrequented paths. 
They hid among the cargoes, in bales of goods and empty 
casks. They endured unspeakable hardships in their de- 
sire to flee from their Rome-cursed fatherland. A royal 
order was issued that the holds of vessels about to sail 
should be fumigated with deadly gases. Still they fled. 
It is estimated that during these Dragonnades not less 
than five hundred thousand of her thriftiest population 
were lost to France. 

Then the death blow. On October 22, 1685, Louis XIV. 
signed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. It was 
urged by the priests, who said, " The Huguenots are per- 
ished from the earth, why should the charter of their 
heresy be left as a dead letter upon the statute books?" 
The king had no alternative but to consent. In this deed 
he did penance for the shameless vices of his former life. 
The next day he married Madame de Maintenon. She 
was the price of his perfidy. Toll the bells ! The long 
struggle is over. The Dragonnades have done their work. 



36 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

What then ? God is a sure paymaster. The wrongs 
inflicted on the Huguenots destroyed the supremacy, of 
France. She was once the leading nation on earth. To- 
day her magnates, trembling at the lifted finger of the war 
lord of Germany, are hobnobbing with a captain of the 
Czar's navy. By the deportation of the Huguenots the 
industries of France were paralyzed. The looms of Lyons 
were abandoned ; the hammer rested on the anvil. Too 
late the nation discovered the value of its thrifty middle 
class, its Third Estate. 

Now began those ominous mutterings against the di- 
vine right of kings and the usurpation of a titled aristoc- 
racy which were consummated in the Reign of Terror. 
The mobs were soon clamoring for Marat and Robespierre. 
The pillars of the government were trembling in the grip 
of retribution. Louis XVI. must presently bow his head 
to the guillotine, and his last testimony, drowned by the 
beating of drums, would recall the silencing of the victims 
of the Estrapades. The fathers had eaten a sour grape 
and the children's teeth were set on edge. 

But heaviest of all fell the blow of judgment upon the 
church that had instigated those bloody deeds. Ere 
long the shrines of Mary were violated. Ere long the 
people were bowing before a courtesan as the Goddess 
of Reason. Ere long the Corps Legislatif was ringing 
with the shout, "No God! No God!" The multitudes 
abandoned the churches and sought the counsels of Vol- 
taire and Rousseau. If Romanism is struck with death in 
France to-day, it is not Protestantism but mad atheism 
that has done it. And indeed the Romish church is mor- 
ibund in France. Could it be otherwise ? Is God blind, 
or do the people so soon forget? Why should France 
pay homage to the scarlet woman, who for two long cen- 



THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE HUGUENOTS. 37 

turies reddened her garments with the blood of the saints 
and of the martyrs of Jesus? 

But the loss of France was the gain of the whole 
world. The Huguenots who fled to Holland built up the 
magnificent industries of that country. Their names 
may be read to-day upon the shops of the Hague. 
Their trademark is on the potteries of Delft. Those 
who took refuge in Switzerland — weavers, glass-makers, 
artisans of every sort — laid the foundations of her pros- 
perity. In England the armies that fought for civil and 
ecclesiastical freedom were largely recruited from the 
Huguenot refugees. Up to that time England had been 
a pastoral country ; her wool had been shipped to France 
and Flanders for manufacture. All this was henceforth 
done at home. Manchester and the other great manu- 
facturing centers were largely erected by Huguenot hands. 
We note in Germany the same result, and it was the very 
refinement of the poetry of retribution that many of the 
German officers in the Franco -Prussian war were of pure 
Huguenot blood. Thus the persecuted who fled under 
the Dragonnades were like those who were scattered 
abroad from the Holy City under the Pentecostal bap- 
tism : they went everywhere with gracious influence pro- 
claiming the word of God. 

After the lapse of two centuries now a strange thing 
happens. Under the ashes of the Huguenot church the 
fire begins to burn. It was a true word of the Master 
concerning his Church, " the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it." " Kill them all," said Francis I., " lest a 
Huguenot shall live to shake his finger at me !" Never 
was so adroit and desperate an attempt at the destruction 
of a people. Yet, lo, after the lapse of these centuries 
the Huguenots live in many of the rural towns of France ! 



38 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

They, a feeble folk like the conies, are meeting together and 
reading the blessed Word, and stretching out their hands 
to God's people in earnest entreaty to " come over and help 
us." The Huguenots live ! " The church is an anvil," said 
Beza to Henry of Navarre, " which has broken many ham- 
mers." Aye, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ! 

" Hammer away, ye rebel bands ; 
Your hammers break, God's anvil stands." 

Out in the desert of Midian the watcher of Jethro's 
flocks saw an acacia bush aflame. As he looked he 
wondered. " I will turn aside," said he, " and see this 
great sight why the bush is not burnt." Burning, yet never 
burnt. Here is the miracle of history. The hills shall 
crumble, the earth shall be consumed with fervent heat, 
the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, but the 
truth, God's truth, abideth for ever ! " The gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." 



THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA. 39 



THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA. 



14 Then they said one to another, we do not well ; this day is a day 
of good tidings, and we hold our peace." 2 Kings 7:9. 

It was a time of famine in Samaria. The sorrows of 
the people had reached the last extremity. The pas- 
tures were parched and brown ; the cattle and herds went 
lowing and bleating for water in vain; no rain, no 
dew ! The heavens above were like brass ; the fleecy- 
clouds that swept over did but mock the anguish ot 
the people. The farmers of the country round about 
had been crowding into the city in the hope of finding 
sustenance. From the overflowing population a bitter 
cry of anguish went up. And yet a sorer experience 
awaited them. 

The king of Syria, Ben-hadad, had for ten years been 
awaiting an opportunity to avenge an affront. The hour 
had come. With a vast army he marched out along the 
ancient road from Damascus, and at length, with waving 
banners, emerged into the vale of Shechem. He brought 
no enginery of war. His purpose was to reduce Samaria 
by the slow and horrible process of starvation. The 
army encamped about the city, enfolding it as in a ser- 
pent's toils. Who now shall paint the despair of beau- 
tiful doomed Samaria? Its people looked forth from 
tower and battlement, and while the pangs of hunger con- 
sumed them, they could hear in their enemy's camp the 
sounds of feasting and laughter. Their streets were 
filled with the unburied dead. An ass's head was sold 



40 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

for fourscore pieces of silver. Their deepest sorrow was 
reached when at length it was rumored that a mother 
had slain her infant for food. 

At this juncture a strange thing happened. In the 
open space between the walls of the city and the Syrian 
camp four lepers were wandering about in quest of food. 
Every man's hand was against them. They were perish- 
ing. What should they do? At twilight one of them 
said, " Why sit we here until we die? If we enter the 
city the famine is there ; if we sit still we perish also. Let 
us go unto the host of the Syrians ; if they save us alive, 
we shall live ; and if they kill us, we shall but die." No 
sooner said than done. As they drew near the Syrian 
camp they heard no sound ; no clash of arms ; no footfall 
of sentries walking to and fro. Silence — dead silence. 
What could it mean? They drew nearer, came with- 
in the lines, and, lo ! the camp had been deserted, and 
in great haste ; for the Lord had made the Syrians to 
hear the sound of chariots and horsemen, as of a mighty 
host, and they had said one to another, " The Hittites 
come from the north, or the Egyptians from the south !" 
And they fled in sudden panic. 

The lepers cautiously approached one of the tents and 
entered. The camp table was spread with food. They 
eagerly fell to, and satisfied their hunger. Then, going 
about from tent to tent, they gathered up the vessels of 
silver and gold, the spoil of Damascus, and hid it away 
in the earth. Thus the night passed. The first rays of 
the morning fell upon them. Then one lifting his eyes 
beheld yonder the walls of starving Samaria. Shame 
and confusion fell upon him. " My brethren," he cried, 
" we do not well ; this day is a day of good tidings, and 
we hold our peace !" 



THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA. 41 

There spoke the awakening spirit of a man. The 
world is given over to selfishness. " Each for himself " is 
the prevailing rule. 

" Alas ! for the rarity 
Of Christian charity 
Under the sun." 

A recent traveler tells of his visit to an oriental hospital. 
It was horrible to hear the patients, lying on their rude 
mattresses, mockingly reproach each other with their in- 
firmities. One wasted by consumption jeered at his neigh- 
bor whose limbs were swollen with dropsy. One whose 
face was eaten away with cancer laughed hideously at 
another who was dying with lock-jaw. At length a de- 
lirious fever-patient sprang from his couch and ran about, 
tearing away the coverings from his companions and lay- 
ing bare their ghastly miseries. This is the spirit of the 
world. 

But into this hospital of the world came the Lord 
Jesus with his golden rule. " Love one another," said he. 
" Speak the sympathizing word ; stretch forth the helpful 
hand; bear ye one another's burdens; whatsoever ye 
would that others should do unto you, do ye even so 
unto them." We are the followers of Jesus Christ. His 
business is our business. His spirit also should be ours. 

There are three motives to beneficence. Let us begin 
with the lowest. 

I. Self-interest. We seek our own salvation. This 
is chronologically the first of Christian motives, but logi- 
cally the last. How shall we get salvation ? It is com- 
pletely done in one act of self-surrender. That being 
attended to, why should we continue to fret ourselves 
about it ? Why shall we keep on singing, • 



42 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

" When I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies " ? 

The best " assurance " is found henceforth not in any 
working in ourselves, but in working outwardly for the 
salvation of those about us. 

A traveller lost on the bleak western prairie felt himself 
yielding more and more to a drowsiness which meant 
certain death. He bravely resisted, struggled on, felt his 
eyelids closing down, his limbs growing numb, when sud- 
denly he stumbled over something in the way. It was 
the body of a man. Dead? He stooped over him. 
The pulse still fluttered, the flesh was warm. He chafed 
him, gathered him up in his arms, and, seeing a light in 
the distance, struggled on with his burden toward it. He 
was weary, the perspiration stood upon his face, but he 
must hold out. It meant life or death. At length he 
staggered with his burden across the threshold of a farm- 
house. Saved ! Saved in saving the other man ! Ah, 
there are multitudes who come up to heaven's gate wea- 
ried in like service, and have an abundant salvation min- 
istered unto them. They have lived in self-forgetful care 
of others. Think you the good Lord would let them 
suffer for that ? 

We speak of happiness as the highest good. But who 
is the happy man ? Is it he who gets and hoards ? Is it 
he who most pleases self? The things of this present time 
all perish with the using. Wealth slips like gold dust 
through one's fingers. There are no pockets in our 
shrouds. 

" That I kept, I lost ; 
That I gave, I have." 

The happiest man that ever lived was the One who most 
forgot himself, who ever thought of others. What is he 



THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA. 43 

doing at Sychar ? A woman is here athirst for the living 
water, and he has come through the scorching sun to give 
her the draught which alone quenches the soul's thirst. 
What is he doing at Bethesda ? Here are the lame, the 
withered, the halt. He has come to heal them. What is 
he doing yonder at Gadara beyond the lake ? A maniac 
is there dwelling among the tombs. He has come to dis- 
possess him of the evil one. So he journeys hither and 
yon on errands of mercy, thinking of all but Jesus. And 
why does he now climb the hill with this weird burden 
upon him ? He has assumed the world's sin and will bear 
its shame, its bondage, and its penalty, in his own body 
on the tree. Thus he empties himself, makes himself ot 
no reputation, forgets himself for us. Let the mind which 
was in Christ Jesus be also in you. 

II. The Common Weal. This is a higher motive than 
self-interest. The world's aphorism is, " Look out for 
number one." But the Christian spirit makes greater ac- 
count of number two. It teaches us to be neighbor to 
every man. 

A ship was out upon the open sea. The captain 
through his glass spied in the distance what seemed to be 
a floating hulk. Then he descried a signal of distress. 
The life-boat was manned and sent forth. The rescuers 
reached the hulk, climbed up, found sailors lying dead 
here and there upon its deck. Yonder, in the shelter of a 
torn sail, lay one in whom life still lingered. They lifted 
him and let him down gently into their boat. As they 
were about to row away he opened his eyes and struggled 
to speak. He could but faintly whisper. This was what 
he said : " Do n't go ; there is another man !" They went 
back and found the other man. Oh, this is the best im- 
pulse of sanctified human nature — to rescue the other man ! 



44 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

It is said of Jesus that he had compassion upon the 
multitude. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd 
and pitied them. They were a-hungered. He bade them 
sit down in ranks upon the green sward. Then he multi- 
plied the loaves and — supplied their need ? No. He dis- 
tributed the loaves among his disciples, and said, " Give 
ye them to eat." This injunction comes to us. If God 
has bestowed his rich blessing upon us, is it not a shame- 
ful thing to keep it to ourselves? It does not impoverish 
us to give nor enrich us to withhold. There is enough 
for all. Therefore, " to do good and to communicate for- 
get not." Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be also 
in us. 

III. The Divine Glory. This is the highest motive 
of all. The chief end of man is to glorify God. In the 
Brahman religion the highest degree of virtue is Apa- 
varga, that is, " to be swallowed up in Brahm." The 
devotee sits all day long, indifferent to the world about 
him, lost in meditation. Ask him what he is doing. He 
will tell you that he is sinking his personality in the Inef- 
fable One. There is beneath this pagan conception a 
glorious truth. The highest attainment possible to a hu- 
man soul is to lose itself in God ; not in any pantheistic 
surrender of personality, not in any subjective process of 
sentimental reflection, but in the complete blending of the 
human with the divine will, and an entire surrender of 
personal ambition to the divine purpose. This is to es- 
teem God's glory above all individual good, and herein 
lies the chief end of man. 

We are to glorify God. But how ? We cannot help 
him in the administration of universal affairs. We can- 
not assist him to roll the stars around their orbits. Nor 
will it glorify him merely to live in the perfunctory 



THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA. 45 

discharge of duty. To pay one's debts and speak the 
truth and obey the civil law is better than the contrary ; 
but the Lord pity the man who is no better than the 
law makes him ! 

God is doing a great work. He is delivering this 
world from sin. It has been going on for centuries. The 
Lord Jesus Christ said, " My Father worketh hitherto, 
and I work/' To this work all earnest men are called. In 
this we are to be " laborers together with God." And here- 
in shall we glorify him. To make the world better, to 
sweeten and brighten the lives of those about us, is to glo- 
rify him. 

It has pleased God to identify himself with the interests 
of the poor and suffering. A Russian legend tells of a poor 
serf who on a bitter night passed a soldier on guard 
whose teeth were chattering with cold. " Man," said he, 
" you shiver, you are freezing : take my coat," and there- 
with he threw his greatcoat upon the shoulders of the sen- 
try and passed on. Long after, the serf came up to hea- 
ven's gate. He looked to see his Lord clad in royal garb. 
He found him at last, but not robed in splendid garments as 
he had expected. " Master," he said, " thou wearest my 
coat." " Aye," said Jesus, " I have worn it eversince thou 
gavest it me that cold night." There is truth in this 
legend ; for did not the Master himself say, " Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my breth- 
ren, ye have done it unto me ?" 

We have a warm place in our hearts for the leper of 
Samaria who led his brethren towards the gates of the 
starving city. They called to the porter, " The Syrians 
have fled ; there is food enough and to spare." The por- 
ter called to the watchman within. A little later the peo- 
ple came crowding through the gates. Men nigh to 



46 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

famishing; mothers with their pale-faced children in 
their arms. Oh, that was a great day for Samaria ! Were 
they happy, think you, who were thus delivered from 
death? Were they happy to be saved from the un- 
speakable pains of starvation ? But off on yonder hillside 
stood four men, their fingers upon their lips, crying, " Un- 
clean ! Unclean !" who dared not mingle with the multi- 
tude. Wretched outcasts ! — yet in all Samaria none were 
happier than they. For deep down in their hearts they 
felt the profoundest of all pleasures, the " generous pleas- 
ure of a kindly deed." 

The Lord has done great things for us. We have the 
Bible — the dear old-fashioned book. Oh, let us give its 
glorious truth to the world that famishes for the want of 
it ! We have the good news of salvation. The light of the 
cross streams over us. Let us run with the message 
to those who are still in the shadow of death. The hope 
of heaven is ours. The call to the marriage supper falls 
upon our ears. Up yonder in our Fathers house there is 
plenty and to spare. Go ye, beloved ! Go out into the 
highways and hedges. Go down into the slums. Go — 
which is often harder — to your friends and neighbors. 
Tell them that the siege is lifted. Tell them that the 
drought is passed and the dew and rain are falling down 
from heaven. Oh, let us not come alone to the King's 
gate ! The grapes and the pomegranates, the sacramen- 
tal bread and wine upon the heavenly tables, are enough 
for all. Let us bring others with us to share the delights 
of the marriage supper of the Lamb. 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 47 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 



u If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31. 

In one of the cities of Cesarea-Philippi there were six 
brothers, well-to- do gentlemen — eminently respectable 
men. They attended to their own affairs. They paid 
their debts, obeyed the laws, and dealt justly with their 
fellow-men. This was the sum total of duty as they ap- 
prehended it. As to spiritual things they were non-com- 
mittal. They said, " You tell us about God and immor- 
tality and righteousness and judgment to come. There 
may be something in these things, but we have no means 
of knowing it. There are some things that we can see and 
handle with our hands. We are living in a world of actual 
toil and struggle. Things that pertain to this present 
world are real and tangible ; they lie within the reach of 
our finger tips. As to things invisible we know nothing ; 
let them pass." So they took no interest in God. or reli- 
gion, but lived purely sordid lives. That was the worst 
that could be said about them. They were not thieves, 
murderers, or adulterers, but just worldlings, that was all. 

In course of time it happened that one of these brothers 
died — died, and "went to his own place." Of course he 
went to his own place. At death every one goes to his 
own place c That is, to the place for which his manner of 
life has fitted him. So it is written, " In hell he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torment." His tongue was parched with 
an unquenchable thirst — a spiritual thirst; a vain long- 



48 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ing for possibilities forever gone by. He suffered like 
Tantalus, who stood to his lips in clear water, which re- 
ceded whenever he sought to drink. The glories of hea- 
ven were in view, but he was shut out. He had chosen 
to turn his back on spiritual verities and now he was exiled 
from God. And " there was a great gulf fixed " — an eter- 
nal, bridgeless gulf. By reason of the fixity of his character 
he could never cross it. The " eternal hope " is a delusion 
and a snare ; there is neither Scripture nor reason for it. 
Death had sealed the rich man's choice. He was in his 
own place. He had no part in heaven, no fitness for it. 
In his interview with Abraham, of which Jesus tells, 
this lost man makes a curious request : " I pray thee, 
therefore, father, that thou wouldst send and admonish 
my five brethren, lest they also come into this place." 
Here is an implication that he, himself, had not been fairly 
treated. Had he known the dreadful outcome he would 
never have passed his life in the pursuit of sordid things. 
He would have his brothers warned in time. The reply 
is : " It would be in vain. They have Moses and the proph- 
ets ; if they hear not them neither will they be persuaded • 
though one rose from the dead." For an angel to bear a 
message of warning or of invitation to those five busy 
worldlings would be indeed love's labor lost. Did they 
not reject the supernatural ? Would they not have pro- 
nounced the angelic visit an imposture, an hallucination ? 
Nor was there any common vocabulary by which this 
angel could have communicated with them. How difficult 
it is to express a spiritual fact in carnal terminology. 
Our Lord himself found it no easy matter. He defined 
God as a Spirit ; but what is spirit ? He could but speak 
of heaven as a house of many mansions, our eyes are so 
heavy, our ears so dull to spiritual things. And what 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 49 

indeed could a celestial messenger say to these men? 
" Your brother is in hell and Lazarus in the realms of 
endless joy." Would they have believed that, think 
you ? Would they not have said, " What ? Our respected 
brother Dives lost, and Lazarus, that miserable beggar, in 
heaven ? Nay, we believe not a word of it." 

Here is our proposition. There is no excuse for un- 
belief. Every man has a fair chance. The evidence is 
sufficient. If we believe not Moses and the prophets 
there is nothing in heaven or in earth that could convince 
us. 

I. Here is a reference to Moses and the prophets in 
the Book. The Jews were accustomed to characterize the 
Scriptures in that way. " Moses and the prophets" 
meant the Old Testament, which comprised the Scriptures 
of those days. In them they had a sufficient rule of faith 
and practice, a setting forth of all the important truths 
touching the endless life. 

It was an imposing procession that passed before them, 
clothed in priestly and prophetic garb. There was Moses 
bearing the Tables of the Law and chanting his psalm of 
eternity, " Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all 
generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, 
or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Then 
came a ruddy youth, his locks glistening with the dews of 
the morning, harp in hand, singing, " The Lord is my 
shepherd, I shall not want." Then a seer with eyes 
aflame foretelling the advent of the Mighty One : u A 
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Im- 
manuel, that is, God with us. He shall be wounded 
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, and 
by his stripes we shall be healed." 
4 



50 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

But we have more. If the light of Israel was deemed 
sufficient, how much more the glorious light of these days. 
The New Testament is ours. Not only Moses and the 
prophets walk before us, but the sons of the Evangel. 
Here are Matthew and Mark and Luke telling the 
old, old story of the manger, of the cross, and of the 
open sepulchre, with life and immortality brought to light. 
Here is the man of rock uttering his good confession, 
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Here 
is the little Jew of Tarsus hurling forth his challenge, 
" Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? 
It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? 
It is Christ that died." Here is the aged dreamer telling 
us of heaven's gates wide open, and closing the Book 
with a voice of universal invitation : " And the Spirit and 
the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst come; and whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." The 
Book is closed and sealed with a Finis. Moses and the 
prophets, the apostles and the evangelists all have spoken. 
The sublime verities have been emphasized; the great 
problems have been cleared up. If we hear them not, 
what shall persuade us ? 

We live in the age of the open Bible. Its leaves are 
scattered abroad like the falling leaves of the tree of life. 
When Tyndale was at Oxford he came upon a copy of 
the Erasmus Bible. A great resolution was formed 
within him. " If God spare my life," said he, " I will put 
this book into our vernacular ere many years ; I will 
cause that the husbandman shall sing the songs of Zion 
as he follows his plow ; that the weaver at his loom shall 
utter forth the exceeding great and precious promises 
while he flings the shuttle. Aye, the time shall presently 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 5 1 

come when Turks and pagans shall read the gracious 
truth." That time has come. The word is scattered 
abroad. The poorest and humblest may search it. This 
is enough ; God is absolved. If we perish it is not his 
fault. What more could he have done for his vineyard 
that he hath not done in it ? 

II. A further reference is made to Moses and the 
prophets in history. The Israelites saw the great law- 
giver, on that awful night of Nisan 14th, leading forth a 
vast rabble of two million souls into the wilderness. They 
saw his lifted rod divide the waters of the sea, and heard 
the song of Miriam and her daughters upon the further 
shore, " Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the 
sea." They saw that multitude halt under the shadow 
of Sinai to receive the decalogue which was to be the 
constitution of the theocratic nation, and followed them 
during the long journey through the wilderness, until 
at length, by a continuous miracle of special provi- 
dence, they entered the promised land. In that little 
strip of territory, in a remote and inconspicuous province 
of the world, for centuries the Lord had watched over 
this people with a peculiar care and protected them. 
From the battle-field of Esdraelon had fallen upon their 
ears the cry, " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon !" 
The sun had stood still on Ajalon and the moon over 
the heights of Gibeon in their behalf. " O my soul," 
rang out the voice of Deborah, " thou hast trodden down 
strength ! So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord ; but 
let them that love thee be as the sun going forth in his 
strength." Those fifteen centuries of glorious provi- 
dence under the administration of Moses and the proph- 
ets were before them. The irrefutable testimony of his- 



52 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

tory was theirs. Had they not abundant reason to be- 
lieve in the power and goodness of the living God ? 

But in our case the evidence is incomparably 
stronger. God has been working, not in Palestine alone, 
but in the wide world. The horizons have been pushed 
back and we have seen Moses and the prophets re-in- 
forced by the noble army of apostles and martyrs, and 
the goodly fellowship of evangelists bearing the oracles 
of truth and righteousness through all lands and over all 
seas. It was a little band of eleven men who came down 
out of the upper chamber to universal conquest. At 
Olivet they were one hundred and twenty in number 
when they saw the Lord ascending through the clouds 
that opened to receive him. On the day of Pentecost 
about three thousand were added unto their number. 
At the end of the first century there were half a million ; 
at the end of the fifth century there were one hundred 
millions, and at the end of the eighteenth century there 
were two hundred millions, and now, with a decade of 
the nineteenth century still to spare, there are above 
four hundred millions of people who glory in the gos- 
pel of Christ. The Lord has been doing great things. 
The Christian era is a long record of miracles. Moses 
and the prophets, the apostles and evangelists, have been 
working wonders in his name, and still the royal stand- 
ards onward go. 

In prophecy the gospel of the great propaganda is 
likened to the waters of the sea. The ocean washes every 
shore. It rolls through all the bays and estuaries, pushes 
its way along the rivers, and creeps up the rippling 
brooks to the very springs upon the mountain tops. It 
floats in the fleecy clouds above us ; it rises in vapors 
that hang about our doorways. It is diffusive, omni- 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 53 

present, irresistible. So is the glorious gospel of the 
blessed God. There is nothing hid from the power there- 
of. The time is coming when its glory shall cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea. 

To a thoughtful mind this voice of history is conclu- 
sive. If Moses and the prophets in the story of the Exo- 
dus and in the chronicles of the little land that flowed with 
milk and honey were sufficient for Israel, what tremendous 
logic there is in the culminative triumph of our religion 
through these successive centuries. Hume and Gibbon 
were not insensible to this argument, and, unbelievers as 
they were, they confessed the presence of an inexplicable 
power in the propagation of the religion of the true 
God. 

III. We note here a further reference to the truth as 
represented by Moses and the prophets in personal expe- 
rience. When Pascal was wearied with his investigation 
of external evidences, which at best could establish only a 
probability of truth in no wise amounting to mathematical 
certainty, he submitted the doctrine to his own inward 
nature, and, as he says, " found there a response so 
prompt and eager that he could no more doubt than he 
could doubt his own existence." As time passed on this 
evidence became more and more assuring, until, when he 
lay dying, Pascal was moved to say, " The truth is clear 
as day." 

There is indeed a quick response within us to the 
address of truth. The spirit of man is the candle of the 
Lord. A boy sick in the hospital, unconscious to all 
other impressions, will open his eyes and smile under his 
mother's touch. In like manner the soul is thrilled, con- 
victed, satisfied, when God addresses himself, through 
conscience, to the inner man. 



54 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

The proof furnished in our personal experience is 
twofold. 

i. The truth has power to save. There is many a 
man to whom theology is an unknown term who knows 
the truth of the gospel by reason of its power to save ; 
whose entire creed is in his grateful song, " This poor 
man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of 
all his trouble." They tell of a king in the olden time 
who, being sick unto death and finding all remedies una- 
vailing, bade his servants lay him down upon an effigy of 
the cross. No sooner did his wasted frame touch it than, 
quickened with new life, he cried, " It lifts me up ! It lifts 
me up !" So many a sin-sick soul has hailed with joy the 
healing cross of Jesus, the Bearer of the world's sin, and 
your sin and mine. 

2. The truth not only saves ; it edifies as well. The 
word " edification " means " temple-building." The truth 
is supremely helpful in the building of character. It en- 
ables us to rend the fetters of vicious habits. 

" It breaks the power of reigning sin 
And sets the prisoner free." 

It fixes our eyes upon the Ideal Man and bids us be ever 
more like him. Its injunction is " Add. " " Add to your 
faith virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowl- 
edge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to 
patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; 
and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things 
be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall nei- 
ther be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

This evidence of personal experience we hold in com- 
mon with the children of Israel. The law, as set forth by 



NO EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF. 55 

Moses at Sinai and by the greater than Moses on the 
mountain in Galilee — the gospel, as foretold in the proph- 
ets and fulfilled in the Evangel — have been saving and 
gladdening and upbuilding and energizing men from the 
beginning until now. 

Thus we conclude there is no excuse for unbelief. 
There is proof enough of the reality of the great doc- 
trines which centre in Christ. It is the will, not the rea- 
son, that rejects them. " O Jerusalem, how often would 
I have gathered you," lamented the Master, " as a hen 
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would 
not." We speak of our skepticism as " honest doubt," 
but therein do we protest too much. To deny the shining 
of the sun at high noon is not "honest doubt;" it is 
fatuity. O ye of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt? 
Moses and the prophets set forth the truth with convin- 
cing power. The Book, all History, and the voice of 
Conscience and Experience speak with convincing power. 
Be ye not faithless, therefore, but believing. 

We flatter ourselves that we wait for further evidence. 
Nay, rather we need a changed heart — a heart made 
willing to receive the truth. Stronger evidence will 
never be forthcoming. " Say not, ' Who shall ascend 
into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 
or, ' Who shall descend into the deep ?' (that is, to bring 
up Christ again from the dead.) For lo, the word is 
nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart ; to wit, 
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him 
from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 



g6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 



" For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and 
what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord 
hath Christ with Belial?" 2 Cor. 6:14, 15. 

The temperance reform in this country is not a cen- 
tury old. In the year 1825 the use of distilled spirits had 
reached the enormous amount of seven and one-half gal- 
lons per capita. The thinking people were alarmed. 
Something must be done. The starting point was total 
abstinence on the part of the disciples of Christ. The 
term " moral suasion " came into use. As yet there was 
no suggestion of legal repression of the traffic in intoxi- 
cating drink. The progress of temperance reform since 
those days is obvious from the fact that the use of distilled 
spirits is now less than two gallons per capita. The in- 
troduction of malt liquors must be taken into the account. 
Nevertheless we have reason to thank God and take 
courage. 

At this moment the question touches the relation of 
the church to the saloon. Here are two tremendous 
forces : one for evil, the other for good. 

I. As to the Church. What is it? The word is 
ekklesia ; that is, " called out." The church is an asso- 
ciation of persons called out of the world to perform a 
definite service for God. 

1. It is not a holy club. There are those who suppose 
the church to be a select company of saints who withdraw 
their garments as they pass, saying, " Stand aside, for I 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 57 

am holier than thou." Not so ; the members of Christ's 
church are sinners — sinners saved by grace. 

2. It is not a social coterie. True, the best people are 
here, the real aristoi; not esteeming themselves to be 
good, but desiring to be so. It is a glorious fellowship. 
It is an inestimable privilege to be admitted to it. But 
the social advantages of the church are merely incidental 
to its prime purpose. 

3. It is not a company of truth seekers. We are not 
seeking truth ; we have found it. The Bible contains the 
sum and substance of all truth respecting the spiritual life. 
To understand the Bible is the end of our desire. Our 
creeds are valueless save as they are faithful statements of 
the contents of Holy Writ. 

4. It is not an ethical society. We are not casting 
about for a system of morals. Our moral code is in the 
Bible. Our ambition is to adjust our lives to that as the 
summary of duty. 

5. The church is a great living organism through 
which God is working for the tearing down of evil and 
the building up of truth and righteousness on earth. The 
emblem of our service is the sword and trowel. What is 
the sword for ? To make war on iniquity. The follow- 
ers of Christ are not at liberty to enter into complicity 
with any form of ill-doing whatsoever. Cut it down ; 
overthrow it ! Our Master came into the world to destroy 
the works of the devil, and we are to follow him. What 
is the trowel for ? To build up all forms of goodness on 
earth ; to lay grace upon grace, as the mason lays stone 
upon stone, until our world shall be a temple fit for the 
Holy Spirit to dwell in. Thus with sword and trowel we 
clear the way and rear the fabric of the kingdom of God. 

II. As to the saloon. What is it? A definition 



58 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

must be an indictment. It is the focal expression of 
almost everything evil. It is an enemy of man. It bloats 
his visage, reddens his eyes, seethes his flesh, and makes 
a cesspool and common sewer of the body which was in- 
tended to be a temple of the living God. It corrupts his 
heart, enfeebles his will, paralyzes his conscience, and 
sends him reeling out into the darkness, from which a 
voice returns, " No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 
God." It is the enemy of the home. It puts out the fire 
upon the hearth ; it empties the barrel and the cruse ; it 
transforms the natural protector of the family into a fiend 
incarnate, clothes the wife in rags, and dooms the innocent 
children to suffering and shame. It is the worst enemy 
of the State. On last election day I took occasion to make 
the round of the polling-places in the lower part of New 
York city. I saw scores of sovereign citizens staggering 
to the ballot-box. The saloons were open and thronged 
to the doors. Here is the Gibraltar of evil politics. Here 
the repeaters and thugs congregate. Here is the market 
of the purchasable vote. Here is the last ditch of mis- 
rule. We talk of municipal reform ; there can be no mu- 
nicipal reform until we are prepared to deal summarily 
with the dram-shop, which is the most portentous menace 
of civil government. If our republic shall ever join the 
long procession of nations whose ruins line the path of 
history it will be under the intolerable burden of those 
evils which are attributable to intoxicating drink. The 
saloon is, furthermore, the direst eyiemy of the church. It 
builds up an impassable wall between the soul and Cal- 
vary ; it engenders a bitter hatred for the things that are 
true and lovely and of good report ; it bars the way to 
the sanctuary and heaven like the red dragon that guard- 
ed the gates of the Hesperides. 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 59 

Are there witnesses to verify this indictment ? Aye, 
thousands of them reeling about our streets. See them 
issuing from the dram-shop ; mark their flushed faces ; 
their shuffling gait ; see them as they pass by hiccough- 
ing down to death. Here are young men, honest toilers, 
men of the learned professions, all sorts and conditions of 
men ; every one of them made in the divine likeness ; 
every one of them hastening towards eternity. What 
wreck and ruin have here been wrought ! It is related that 
once in a certain town in Kentucky the grandson of the 
statesman Henry Clay lay dying of a wound received in 
a drunken brawl, while at the same time the grandson of 
John J. Crittenden was wrestling with delirium tremens, 
and the grandson of Patrick Henry was serving out a 
term of imprisonment for attempted murder- — the re- 
sult likewise of drink. 

Are more witnesses needed ? Let the wives and chil- 
dren of this drunken multitude pass by. Oh, these sad- 
eyed, pale-faced women ! God pity the drunkard's wife, 
and his little children, ill-clothed and hungry, shrinking 
from the pointed finger and the taunt, " A drunkard's 
child." There are many millions of money invested in 
the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, but if a 
bill for damages were made out against the dram-shop 
for the havoc it has wrought among these women and 
little ones, all those millions would be exhausted over and 
over again to pay it. 

More witnesses still? Let us stand by the doorway of 
one of our multitudinous dives and hear the laughter of 
lost womanhood. The evils which are wrought in this 
place of infamy are scarcely to be spoken of in this pres- 
ence. But inmates and patrons alike are devotees of 
Bacchus. We shall never reach the social evil until we 



60 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

hurl the thunderbolts of outraged sentiment against the 
dram-shop. Out of the doorway of this den of infamy 
comes a painted thing " whose feet take hold on hell." 
On either side she is supported by the semblance of a 
man : on this side the gambler, on that the dram-seller. 
Hither they come — the three horrors of our civilization. 
Now abide these three, Gambling, Licentiousness and In- 
ebriety ; and the greatest of these is Inebriety, for it 
stands behind all. 

Is more evidence needed ? Let us pass through the 
corridors of our prisons. Here are thieves, murderers, 
and wrong-doers of every sort. Chief Justice Coleridge 
says more than eighty per cent, of all these commitments 
are due to strong drink. A while ago a man came from 
the saloon to his home and, though ordinarily the kindest 
of husbands, now, beside himself with drink, struck down 
the wife of his bosom while his children stood sobbing 
and cowering before him. The screams of his wife brought 
the police, but too late. He was dragged to prison : the 
next morning he awoke and looked about him. " Where 
am I?" he asked of the guard at the grating. "In jail." 
" In jail ! What for ?" " Murder." A moment of silent 
horror, and then he asked, " Does my wife know?" " It 
was your wife you killed." He fell in a swoon. The 
constable who arrested that man was owner of the saloon 
that had nerved him for the bloody deed ; the judge who 
sentenced him had voted to license it ; and the jailer who 
turned the key upon him was a partner in the concern. 
Is it not a dreadful thing that* this should be permitted to 
go on ? Put one of our daily newspapers in evidence ; 
cast your eye over the police reports. What is it that 
nerves men for deeds of shame and violence? There 
are criminals of many sorts and degrees, but the rum- 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 6l 

seller is the criminal of all criminals ; for it is scarcely be- 
yond the bounds of simple fact to say that he is the 
maker of them all. 

Still further. Let us visit our insane asylums. See 
these poor demented creatures, driveling idiots, raving 
madmen. It was long ago that a wise student of human 
nature exclaimed, " Alas, that men should put an enemy 
into their mouths to steal away their brains !" It is stated 
that seventy per cent, of the inmates of our lunatic 
asylums have dethroned their reason by inebriety or else 
are paying by inheritance the penalty of parental indul- 
gence. 

Or pass through our poor houses. Many of the pau- 
pers are old before their time ; watery-eyed and decrepit 
through drink. The vast majority, however, are women 
and children ; the wives and offspring of inebriates. The 
majority of our workingmen are accustomed to squander 
their surplus earnings in drink, and at death they leave 
their families penniless and helpless. What then ? Over 
the hills to the poorhouse ! 

Or go through the potter } s field. Oh, what tragedies 
of pain and sorrow lie hidden under these mounds ! Here 
are men who struggled vainly in the grip of habit and 
died in drunken frenzy ; here are wives whose life was 
starved and beaten out of them until they were laid out 
for their burial in borrowed shrouds ; here are little chil- 
dren whose fathers were so impoverished by drink that 
not enough was left to purchase a meagre four feet oi 
earth to lay them in. One of these days the trumpet will 
sound and the dead will come forth ; out of the potter's 
fields of the earth will arise a multitude that no man can 
number, who will point to the rum-seller, and with their 
flaming eyes and indignant appeals will scourge him 



62 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

away from heaven's gate to his own place. For, if " no 
drunkard shall inherit the kingdom," how shall the 
drunkard-maker be permitted a place in the fellowship of 
saints and the presence of God ? 

III. Now as to the relation of the church to the saloon. 
We have seen that the church is the appointed organism 
through which God is building up truth and goodness on 
earth. We have seen that the saloon is the practical ex- 
pression of nearly all that is iniquitous among men. How 
shall the two stand in relation to each other ? Or what in 
these premises is the church to do ? 

i. It can choose to do nothing. It can supinely fold 
its hands and say, " The saloon has come to stay." God 
save us from that cowardly sophism ! Suppose the saloon 
has come to stay ; does that afford us reason for entering 
into complicity with it? The practice of idolatry has 
come to stay ; theft has come to stay ; murder has come 
to stay ; adultery has come to stay ; but shall we on that 
account propose a revision or restatement of the deca- 
logue? Shall we forbear to oppose ourselves against 
those entrenched evils which God hates and his people 
are required to hate as well ? Our Lord Jesus came into 
the world " to destroy the works of the devil," not to 
mourn because of their prevalence, nor to make com- 
promises with them. We are to follow Him. Look to 
your marching orders ! The time will come when, in the 
clear revealing of infinite justice, it will be seen that no 
evil thing had really " come to stay." The dram-shop 
with all other kindred iniquities will continue only until 
God's people shall become co-laborers with him in a uni- 
ted effort to overthrow it. 

2. The church may sanction the saloon — that is, license 
it. The word license is from the Latin licet, which in the 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 63 

original is an impersonal verb meaning " it is permitted " ; 
but brought over into the English tongue it becomes in- 
tensely personal and means " I permit it" And that is 
the meaning of a vote for license — " I permit it." What 
is it that we permit ? The dram-shop is authorized to do 
what? 

11 Licensed to make the strong man weak, 
Licensed to lay the strong man low ; 
Licensed the wife's fond heart to break, 
And make the children's tears to flow. 

" Licensed to do thy neighbor harm, 
Licensed to kindle hate and strife ; 
Licensed to nerve the robber's arm, 
Licensed to whet the murderer's knife. 

" Licensed thy neighbor's purse to drain, 
And rob him of his very best ; 
Licensed to heat his feverish brain, 
Till madness crown thy work at last. 

11 Licensed, like spider for a fly, 

To spread thy nets for man, thy prey ; 
To mock his struggles, suck him dry, 
Then cast the shattered hulk away. 

" Licensed, where peace and quiet dwell 
To bring disease, and want, and woe ; 
Licensed to make this world a hell, 
And fit man for a hell below." 

3. The church may undertake to sa?ictify the dram- 
shop — that is, throw the cloak of ecclesiastical help and 
comfort over it. This is the last proposition which, in 
certain ecclesiastical quarters, finds favor. It is incredible 
that so preposterous a thing should be seriously pro- 
posed. The saloon is totally bad ; it has done evil and 
only evil all the days of its life. If the roofs were lifted 
in this city at this moment we should see scores of men, 



64 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

brutalized by drink, with their arms lifted beating their 
poor wives and wailing children ; men who have made 
their homes wretched and robbed the lives of those whom 
God and nature alike have obliged them to protect, of 
the last remnant of joy and peace. It is now seriously 
proposed to make comfortable quarters for those drunken 
brutes : to strew the floor of the dram-shop with fresh 
sawdust, hang elevating pictures on the walls, and put 
pure liquors on the shelves. In God's name, if the church 
has aught of treasure or of sympathy to spare, let it be 
lavished on the drunkard's victims, on his poor wife and 
children, and let the brute shift for himself. 

Are we, then, to do nothing for the drunkard ? Oh, 
yes; but surely not in such a manner as to encourage 
him in his bestial vice. We may help him by legislating 
in his favor, by using all the powers of holy persuasion, 
and, above all and before all, by personal example in the 
matter of abstinence. " I have n't the heart," said a min- 
ister recently, "to deny the poor man his beer, while I 
lunch with my Bishop at my club." What then? One 
of two inferences should follow. Either let me provide 
comfortable quarters where the poor man may drink, or 
else (and this is the mind of the self-denying Christ) let 
me stop drinking with my Bishop at the club. If wine 
make my brother to offend, in the name of all that is 
good and gracious and Christlike, let me drink no wine 
while the world standeth. 

4. There is but one other attitude which the church 
may assume ; namely, it may antagonize the dram-shop 
to the uttermost. War to the knife and the knife to the 
hilt ! No quarter ! There are thirty continuous miles of 
saloons in the city of New York, and every red light that 
streams from them marks an open mouth of hell. What 



THE CHURCH AND THE SALOON. 65 

can the church do but antagonize this thing ? What shall 
ministers do but denounce it? If the trumpet give an 
uncertain sound, what shall the suffering people do? 
Let us befriend the drunkard and the drunkard's wife 
and children, and defend them from their foe. When the 
niece of Richelieu was assailed by a royal debauchee, 
the old cardinal, with holy indignation flaming from his 
eyes, stood for her protection : 

" Look where she stands ! 
Around her form I draw the awful circle of our kingly church. 

Step but a foot within the hallowed line 
And on thy head — yea, though it wear a crown — 

I '11 hurl the curse of Rome !" 

This should be the attitude of the church and of God's 
people towards the dram-shop, which is the enemy ol 
all things pure and true and good. Let us not undertake 
to cleanse what has been proven in the nature of things 
to be essentially unclean. Let us not lay a blessing upon 
that which God has cursed. We must needs do our best 
and uttermost to rescue the dram-seller from the error 
of his ways ; to break the chains of the inebriate and set 
him free ; to heal the wounds of the poor and helpless 
whom the drink horror has stricken down. But as to 
that unmitigated evil — the dram-shop — we can offer 
naught but bitterest enmity. The vow of Cato, "Car- 
thago delenda est'' must be ours. No quarter to the 
dram-shop ! The thing must die, because it is accursed 
of God. 



The Religion of the Future, 



66 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

HOBAB OF AKABA ; 

OR, WHY SHOULD I BE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH? 



"And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel -the Midianite, 
Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which 
the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will 
do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. 
And he said unto him, I will not go; I will depart to mine own 
land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray 
thee ; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the 
wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it 
shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be that what goodness 
the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee." 
Num. 10:29-32. 

We are accustomed to say, " I believe in the holy 
catholic Church," and to sing, " I love thy Church, O 
God." Are we able to give a reason for this spirit of 
devotion ? Macaulay says that in the time of Charles II. 
there was one institution that the people prized more 
than the hereditary monarchy; to wit, the Establishment; 
and yet, while ready to quarrel or to die for it, they were 
unfamiliar with its creed and oblivious of its moral obli- 
gations. Such unreasoning attachment to an institution 
is worth but little. We should be ready always to give 
an answer to every man that asketh a reason for the faith 
that is in us. 

The Israelites had been encamped at the foot of Mt. 
Sinai for about a year. One morning in June, B. C. 1490, 
the mysterious cloud, which had been resting over the 
tabernacle, was seen lifted towards the sky. This meant 
that they were to journey on. An Arab sheik named 



HOBAB OF AKABA. 67 

Hobab, from the Gulf of Akaba, a relative of Moses, who 
had been abiding in the camp, gave notice that he would 
now depart to his own land. The conference between 
him and Moses is given in detail : 

And Moses said, " We are journeying unto the place of 
which the Lord said, ' I will give it you :' come thou with 
us and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken 
good concerning Israel. " 

And Hobab said, " I will not go ; but I will depart 
unto my own land and to my kindred." 

And Moses said, " Leave us not, I pray thee ; foras- 
much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wil- 
derness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And 
it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be that what 
goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do 
unto thee." 

The argument which is here presented by Moses is 
valid to-day. There are many persons outside of the 
church who ought to be in it. There was Captain Miles 
Standish, of Plymouth colony, " an iron-nerved Puritan 
who could hew down forests and live on crumbs." He 
devoted himself to noble exploits in defence of the colonists 
and was nevertheless not himself a member of the Puritan 
fellowship. So here and there a devoted Christian is 
found who is loyal to the landmarks of scriptural faith 
and doctrine, a generous supporter of Christian enter- 
prises, but outside the visible communion of Christ. 
This ought not to be. The specious reasoning which will 
excuse the conduct of such persons would excuse others 
equally well ; the outcome of which would be — no church 
at all. Let us now consider the arguments which were 
advanced by Moses in urging Hobab to fall in with the 
militant host of God. 



68 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

I. The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. The 
church is a divine institution. It is the great living or- 
ganism through which God is working for the deliver- 
ance of the world from sin. 

The church as divinely constituted is characterized as 
follows : i. It is founded upon the living Christ. As it 
is written, " Other foundation can no man lay than that is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ. ,, 2. Its symbol is the Bible, 
in which the people of the church find their infallible rule 
of faith and practice. No creed is of value except as it 
sets forth the doctrines of Holy Writ. No ethical system 
can be received which is not wholly derived from the 
Scriptures as the word of God. 3. The two sacraments. 
These furnish the cohesive force by which the church is 
held together. The two sacraments, Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper, are the sole remnant of the old cere- 
monial law. In simplest form they cover substantially 
the whole of the Levitical economy : all purifications are 
set forth in Baptism ; all sacrifices are set forth in the 
Lord's Supper. 4. The propaganda. The chief end 
of the church is to propagate the gospel until "the glory 
of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover 
the sea." 

The church thus founded and ordered has been kept 
by a special providence through all these ages. All 
ecclesiastical history might be briefly written in three 
chapters : 1. It opens with the call of Abraham in Ur 
of the Chaldees. The Lord appeared to him, saying, 
" I have appointed thee to keep the oracles, to cherish 
the true religion, to hold the doctrine of the. promised 
Christ and hand it down to coming generations. Get 
thee, therefore, out of thy country and from thy kindred 
and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show 



HOBAB OF AKABA. 69 

thee." So Abraham journeyed northward along the bank 
of the great river. Within the fluttering curtains of his 
tent were the destinies of the future church. Crossing the 
Euphrates towards the west he became the Ibri ; literally, 
" the one who crosses over/' the first of the Hebrews. 
Then, turning to the south, he passed on to Beersheba, 
where he settled with his household. His children were 
greatly multiplied. In course of time they went down 
into Egypt. 

2. The 7iext chapter opens with the call of Moses, 
Out in the desert of Midian the Lord said, " I have 
seen the affliction of my people and have heard their cry 
by reason of their task-masters; come now, therefore, 
and I will send thee to bring forth my people out of 
Egypt. Then the Exodus. The midnight wail at the 
death of the firstborn was the signal for the going forth of 
a multitude of not less than two millions of slaves. Out 
into the wilderness God led them with an outstretched 
arm ; the waves of the sea parted before them ; at Sinai 
they received their civil constitution in the moral and 
ceremonial law. The forty years of wandering, with 
many battles and unspeakable privations, bound them 
together into a homogeneous fellowship, so that at 
length, under the shattered walls of Jericho, they passed 
into the land of promise no longer a rabble of fugitive 
slaves, but a nation. The assignments of territory having 
been made in Palestine they settled down to various 
modes of life, but were held closely together by their 
religion centring in Jerusalem. A numerous body of 
priests cherished and set forth the great central doctrine 
of the promised Christ in a multitude of rites and ordi- 
nances, every one of which pointed toward the cross. A 
noble company of prophets taught the people out of the 



JO THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Scriptures and bade them hope for the coming of Mes- 
siah. The shadows of religious declension gathered 
about the people, and as the long night of four hundred 
years set in — dividing the old from the new economy — 
the last of the prophetic line, Malachi, waving his torch, 
cried, " The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing 
in his beams !" 

3. The last chapter opens with the song of the angels, 
" Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, good-will 
among men !" The Christ has come ! He preaches the 
great truths of the kingdom. He heals the sick and 
opens blind eyes. , He sets his face steadfastly to- 
wards the cross; but ere he makes the great pas- 
chal offering he gathers about him a little company of 
disciples who form the nucleus of the Christian church. 
At Pentecost the baptism of fire and power falls upon 
them, and thence they are scattered abroad, preaching 
everywhere the unsearchable riches of Christ. God's 
providence is round about them. From a mere handful 
their numbers are increased from century to century, until 
to-day there are not less than four hundred millions of 
people who bow the knee at the name of Jesus Christ. 
So God hath dealt wonderfully with Israel. The seed of 
Messianic truth which he placed in the hands of Abraham 
to be planted and nourished has grown into a glorious 
tree, under whose shadow the nations of the earth take 
shelter. God loves his church. 

"Her walls before him stand, 
Dear as the apple of his eye 
And graven on his hand." 

II. Come thou with us > for we will do thee good. What 
are the personal advantages of being in the fellowship of 



HOBAB OF AKABA. 7 1 

the church ? I. The benefit of the avowal. At the begin- 
ning of the Reformation there was a monk, Martin of 
Basle, who came to the knowledge of the truth but was 
reluctant to confess it. He wrote his confession on a leaf 
of parchment : " O most merciful Christ, I know that I 
can be saved only by the merit of thy blood. Holy Jesus, 
I acknowledge thy sufferings for me. I love thee ! I 
love thee !" Then he removed a stone from the wall of 
his chamber and deposited his confession there. It was 
not discovered for more than a hundred years. In the 
meanwhile no one knew that Martin of Basle had found 
the riches of Christ. About the same time, however, 
there was another monk, Martin of Wittemberg, who, 
reading an old copy of the Scriptures, saw clearly the 
great truth of justification by faith. He said, " My Lord 
has confessed me before men ; I will not shrink from con- 
fessing him before kings." On the door of the royal 
church he nailed his ninety-five theses. In the Diet at 
Worms he witnessed a noble confession. The world re- 
veres the memory of Martin of Wittemberg ; but as for 
Martin of Basle, who cares for him ? The manly thing 
is to make confession of one's faith. The manly thing 
is to speak out. " Who now is on the Lord's side ?" 
" With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but 
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

2. The benefit of the Eucharist. Here we speak diffi- 
dently, for we are in the presence of a great mystery. 
The bread of the sacrament is bread, and the wine is 
nothing but wine ; and yet there is a spiritual influence 
which is conveyed to the soul partaking of them. This 
simple repast is like the cake baken on the coals and 
the cruse of water of which the prophet partook and 
then proceeded in the strength of it forty days unto 



72 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

the mount of God. It is indeed a feast of fat things and 
of wine upon the lees. In discerning the bruised body 
and poured-out blood of Jesus we enter in some myste- 
rious manner into a peculiar communion with him. As 
it is written, " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
blood dwelleth in me, and I in him." 

3. The benefit of mutual help. The Hebrew word for 
strength is chayil, meaning " twisted." A three-fold cord 
is not easily broken. No man can stand alone. We need 
each other's prayers and sympathy. " Two are better 
than one, for if one fall the other will lift him up ; but woe 
to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not an- 
other to help him up." 

III. Thou may est be to us instead of eyes. The Israel- 
ites were facing the wilderness ; Hobab knew the way. 
He could help them. 

God is doing a great work. He is doing it through 
his church. A call goes forth to every earnest man to 
fall in with this fellowship and so become a laborer to- 
gether with God. When Barak went out against Sisera's 
army the cry was heard from the heights, " To the help of 
the Lord ! To the help of the Lord against the mighty !" 
And from every direction the tribes came flocking to his 
standard. But up in the north the village of Meroz, 
nestling among the hills, heeded not the call. When the 
battle was over, and Deborah went forth with the daugh- 
ters of Israel to sing the triumph, there was one minor 
note: 

" Curse ye Meroz, said the messenger of the Lord, 
Curse ye its inhabitants 

Because they came not to the help of the Lord, 
To the help of the Lord against the mighty." 

No right-thinking man, who loves truth and goodness 



HOBAB OF AKABA. 73 

and who believes in Jesus Christ, can afford to be left out 
of the great work of the kingdom. If it be asked, " Can- 
not a man be saved outside of the fellowship of the 
church ?" we answer, That is to put the question on the 
very lowest plane. No doubt there are many in the king- 
dom of heaven who were not associated with any body of 
believers here. But they lost the glorious opportunity of 
serving in the militant host. 

" The Son of God goes forth to war, 
A kingly crown to gain ; 
His blood-red banner streams afar : 
Who follows in His train ?" 

It is an exalted privilege to serve God in his great 
company. We are going to the land whereof the Lord 
hath said, " I will give it thee." Come thou with us, good 
friend. There are blessings by the way, but the milk and 
honey are beyond the wilderness. There is an inherit- 
ance in the heavenly Palestine for thee. 

You may have part with us in the redemption of the 
world under the great Leader. There is a work awaiting 
your hand which no one can do as well as you. There 
is a place in the ranks vacant until you enlist and stand 
beneath the banner of the King of kings. 

Come with us. This great company — the Church — is 
under God's special care and promise. 

Come with us. We will do thee good. 

Come with us. Thy life shall count for something yet 
in the great conflict against sin, as thou shalt find thy 
place in the embattled host. 



74 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY. 



" I have received a dispensation to fulfil {margin, fully to preach) 
the word of God ; even the mystery which has been hid from 
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his 
saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of 
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is Christ 
in you, the hope of glory.' ' Col. 1:25-27. 

Paul is giving an account of his work. All the indus- 
try which had marked his career as a zealot under the 
commission of the Sanhedrin, for the propagation of Juda- 
ism, he had brought over into the service of Christ. 
A new commission or dispensation had been given him, 
and in this case from God himself: to wit, to make known 
a great mystery, which had been hid from ages and from 
generations. This was the sum and substance of his 
preaching. It was the setting forth of a revelation or un- 
veiling from God. 

I. The mystery here referred to is declared to be " the 
hope of glory." Men have always believed that there is 
something beyond this present life. The spark of original 
divineness has never been extinguished within us. We 
came forth from God. He made us in his likeness ; to 
face great problems ; to have our hearts thrilled with 
noble aspirations ; to see visions and to dream dreams ; 
to commune with him. In our childhood we look off to- 
wards the interstellar spaces and wonder. There is some- 
thing beyond. There are heights unattainable. By these 
very wonderings we are infinitely separated from the 
lower orders of life. We are all sensible that we have 



THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY. 75 

met with a great loss; our birthright has gone from 

us. 

" The moon doth with delight 
Look round her when the heavens are bare ; 
The waters on a starry night 
Are beautiful and fair ; 
The sunshine is a glorious birth ; 
But yet I know, where'er I go, 
That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. " 

Shall we ever recover our lost estate ? Is there a glo- 
rious destiny in store for us ? May we venture to hope ? 
Our hopes are ever clouded in doubts and misgivings. If 
we need confirmation of them, we are met in nature by the 
fact that everything changes and passes away. The old 
mountains are crumbling ; the stars of heaven are fading 
out ; to everything there is an end. If we seek consola- 
tion from the King of Terrors we are appalled. From his 
bourne no traveller has ever returned. The lips of the 
dead have no word for us. There is no voice, nor answer, 
nor any that regardeth. If we ask philosophy to confirm 
our hopes, its strongest word is if, or perhaps. Plato felt 
himself to be floating on a raft upon a boundless sea ; 
whence he came, or whither he went, he knew not. 
Socrates, with the cup of hemlock at his lips, ventured 
to hope; yet, whether this was the end, or something 
was to come after, he knew not. 

II. The mystery declared. The Lord Jesus came into 
the world to verify this hope of glory. He preached it. 
He was ever speaking of the other world : the Father's 
house, whence he had come and whither he should go ; 
the world of angels and perfected saints. All his dis- 
course was in the realm of invisible realities. His life 
was like a ladder reaching up from the mountains and 
lost in the glory above. His great work on Calvary 



j6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

was the casting up of a highway into that ineffable 
glory. 

The hands that seemed so helpless when nailed upon 
the cross were paving the way into the kingdom of 
God, and his resurrection flung wide the doors. We 
stand at the open sepulchre, and as our eyes grow accus- 
tomed to the darkness it becomes a window opening up- 
ward through which we behold the splendors of the eter- 
nal home. In this vision, life and immortality are brought 
to light. The hope becomes a glorious fact. The hand 
of the death-angel sets the pulse beating wildly with a 
glorious expectancy. 

" The world recedes ; it disappears ! 
Heaven opens on my eyes ! my ears 
With sounds seraphic ring : 
' Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! 
O grave ! where is thy victory? 
O death ! where is thy sting ?" 

III. The mystery apprehended. It is not enough that 
Christ should declare it. There is little advantage in objec- 
tive truth. Gold in the mine makes no man rich. Water 
in the brook satisfies no man's thirst. The gold must be 
digged, coined, held in the hand. The water must be 
put to the lips. So truth must be appropriated. Luther 
thanked God for the personal pronouns. It is not Christ 
yonder who saves, but Christ made mine. The joy of sal- 
vation is in being able to say, " My Lord and my God." 

The key of this mystery, " the hope of glory," is an- 
other mystery, " Christ in you." There must needs be an 
anchor on every ship that sails, but when the storm rages 
an anchor on the deck is a vain thing; it must be let 
down, down, until its flukes take hold upon the rock, 
and then, when the anchor chain is all a-tremble, the ship 



THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY. J J 

holds fast. So must we apprehend our Lord. The 
anchor-chain is faith ; it holds us to the things which are 
within the veil. 

But what does this mean, — " Christ in us"? Would 
that it were possible to tell. Who can explain the para- 
ble of the vine and its branches ? Yet upon the realiza- 
tion of this mystery in our experience depends all the 
profitableness of life. As it is written, " He that abideth 
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; 
for without me ye can do nothing." 

We may not explain the mystery, but we may realize 
it. The hope of glory may be ours. The clew to the 
labyrinth may be beyond comprehension, but what mat- 
ter, if it leads us into light ? The utility of a key does 
not depend upon a man's acquaintance with the lock- 
smith's art. Christ in us is the truth that opens the door 
into glory. 

We may know by certain infallible signs whether or 
no we have possessed ourselves of it. 

i. The first token is a willingness to hear. The Mas- 
ter's word is the believer's court of last appeal. As Ulys- 
ses, sailing homeward, was about to pass the enchanted 
isles, he caused himself to be bound to the mast lest he 
should yield to the Sirens' allurements. The voices rang 
in his ears ; the white arms reached forth and beckoned ; 
he heard, he saw, he struggled to be free, but his nobler 
purpose held him. So the Christian hears one voice 
above all others: it is the Lord's behest; he is bound 
by the sternest sense of duty. The love of Christ con- 
strains him. 

2. Another token is holiness. The divine life in the 
believer is by a strange alchemy transmuted into this 
glorious result. A dew-drop, colorless and odorless, falls 



78 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

upon a rose-bush ; it enters into the life of the rose. Pluck 
the flower, press it, and the dew-drop re-appears, and 
now it has beauty and fragrance. Explain to me the 
mystery of the dewdrop and I will explain the mystery of 
Christ dwelling in the believer's soul and ever revealing 
himself in the excellency of a holy life. The love of the 
Master makes us "coy and tender to offend." It is 
written, " WJiosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin," t. e. y the trend of his entire life is toward truth and 
goodness. If betrayed into wandering, he returns. His 
life is like the magnetic needle, which, however it may 
tremble on its pivot, comes back to point northward. To 
have Christ dwelling in us is to have purged out sin. 

3. Yet another token of this divine indwelling is read- 
iness to do and suffer aught for the Master's sake. Self 
is more and more lost sight of. The divine within us 
crowds out all else. " Fire burns," said Bishop Bonner 
to Audley under sentence of death ; " fire burns and flesh 
cringes." " Aye," said Audley; "but what is flesh now 
and what is life to a man who surrenders all to God ? If 
I had as many lives as there are hairs upon my head, yet 
would I, without a moment's fear, lay all before Him." 

4. The last token by which we verify our appropria- 
tion of the great mystery is inward happiness. Why 
should not that man rejoice whose destinies are inextrica- 
bly blended with the unspeakable glory of the Son of 
God ? For if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified 
together. If we enter into the fellowship of his death we 
shall also rise with him unto the endless life. There is no 
song like the song of salvation. " I am my Beloved's and 
he is mine ; his banner over me is love." When the new 
world appeared to the weary eyes of Columbus he led his 
sailors in the Te Deum. But what worlds of eternal re- 



THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY. 79 

joicing are opened up to us in the hope of glory ! All 
heaven is ours. 

"To Thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens, and all the Pow- 
ers therein. 

To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, 

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, 

Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory. 

Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. 

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the 
Father. 

Day by day we magnify Thee, and we worship Thy Name 
ever, world without end. 

O Lord, let Thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in Thee." 

The sacrament of the Lord's Supper* is the outward 
symbol of this mystical union of the believer and Christ. 
"I do as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and 
thirsty soul with My crucified body and shed blood to 
everlasting life as this bread is broken before your eyes 
and this cup is given to you, and as ye do eat and drink 
the same in remembrance of me/' is the Lord's word to 
each guest at the table. The elements of the sacrament 
are simple bread and wine ; nor do we believe that they 
are changed in any mysterious way into veritable flesh 
and blood. Spiritually, however, our Lord does com- 
municate himself to us in the partaking of this feast. 
It sets forth in outward symbol the fact that salvation 
is • attained only by an actual receiving of the living 
Christ. As it is written, " Except ye eat my flesh and 
drink my blood ye have no life in you." Here is mystery 
again ; but shall we therefore reject it ? Life itself is a 
mystery. Where does life dwell ? In the brain ? In the 
heart ? Or, as some of the ancients believed, in the pineal 

° This sermon was delivered at the administration of the Lord's 
Supper. 



80 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

gland ? Nay. It dwells everywhere in us. It abides in 
brain and throbbing pulse and flashing eyes, and every- 
where to the very finger tips. So does Christ dwell in us : 
possessing the will, the brain, the heart, and conscience ; 
making the body itself his temple to dwell in. 

When Wesley was dying he murmured over and over 
again, " Immanuel — God with us — This is the best of all — 
God with us." It is indeed a blessed truth that God 
should have bowed the heavens to come down and 
dwell among us. But that is not the best of all. The 
best is Christ in us, Christ in us-— the hope of glory. 

" Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man 
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, 
and will sup with him, and he with me." 



THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN. 8 1 

THE 

CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN. 



" Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself 
a pillar, which is in the king's dale ; for he said, I have no son 
to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar 
after his own name ; and it is called unto this day, Absalom's 
place." 2 Sam. 18:18. 

The French have a proverb, " To every bird its nest 
is fair," and the Spaniards have another, " Every dog is a 
lion in his own kennel ;" each of which is but another way 
of saying, " There is no place like home." But it takes 
more than four walls and a roof to make a home. It takes 
love and patience and self-denial, and all the sisterhood of 
graces. If the roofs were lifted from the dwellings of 
this great city what desolations we should see ! Here a 
frivolous mother is the evil spirit of the domestic circle ; 
there it is a churlish Nabal who brings misery with him. 
Now the bane of the household is poverty, and again the 
wine cup. So was it in David's golden house ; there was 
every luxury, yet an unspeakable sorrow withal. The 
skeleton in the closet was a scapegrace son. 

On the day when Absalom was born there was great 
rejoicing in the palace. How proud King David was, and 
what dreams the fond mother dreamed as she looked into 
that infant's face ! As time passed he grew into a splen- 
did youth. Handsome ? " In all Israel there was none 
so fair: from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet 
there was no blemish in him." His hair, luxuriant and 
glossy, fell over his shoulders. Alas, it was destined to 
6 



82 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

cost him dearly yet ! He was every inch af prince ; brave 
as a lion, dashing, headstrong, a very Harry Hotspur. 
He was fond of display. He lived a luxurious life. He 
was ever ready for a revel. He gathered around him a 
coterie of the young blades of Jerusalem, and presently 
was known — for history goes around and around, and the 
things that happened then are happening now — as a fast 
young man. 

The story of Absalom is briefly told. Its first chapter 
is sprinkled with blood. He was scarcely out of his teens 
before he had killed his brother Amnon and fled to Ge- 
shur, his mother's home, where he spent three impatient 
years in exile. Then by a ruse he secured permission to 
return ; and presently his indulgent father, bending over 
him with pride glowing in his eyes, said, " Let bygones 
be bygones," and kissed him. 

The next chapter in his life is full of dissipation. He 
set up an ostentatious establishment. Had you listened 
under his window you might have heard far into the 
night the rattling of dice and the clink of goblets. No 
boy in Jerusalem but knew Prince Absalom's prancing 
and curvetting horses. These were an Egyptian innova- 
tion and had been expressly forbidden. But Absalom fol- 
lowed the religion of his mother, who was a pagan prin- 
cess, and God's precepts were nothing to him. 

The next chapter is one of plotting and treachery. 
" He rose up early," it is written, "and betook himself to 
the gate." Oh, he was a clever youth. He met there 
such farmers and others as were in litigation, and asked, 
" How goes your case ?" and when they answered, " Slow- 
ly," he replied with a sigh of solicitude, " Alas ! My 
father is old; he means well, but he has no counsellors 
to speak of; if I were only in power you should see." 



THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN. 83 

Thus did he sow dragons' teeth. He "stole the hearts of 
the people ;" and treachery could no farther go. Better 
had he stolen the king's jewels or looted the royal ex- 
chequer than to have stolen away the people's hearts ! 

In the next chapter we see Absalom going out to He- 
bron to fulfil, as he told his father, a solemn vow. It 
must have pleased the king to know that his son was turn- 
ing over a new leaf and setting his heart at last upon 
religious things. He was indeed but stealing the livery 
of the court of heaven to serve the devil in ; for fast after 
him followed Ahithophel, the prime minister, and a com- 
pany of congenial conspirators, chosen from the flower of 
the army. The plans had been well arranged : sentinels 
were stationed here and there along the way ; a line of 
beacons had been laid upon the hills ; the flames gave the 
signal from hill-top to hill-top ; the procession set out for 
Jerusalem amid shouts and acclamations, " Absalom is 
king ! Long live Absalom !" The tidings were brought 
to David at his golden house. He had no time for de- 
liberation. His heart was crushed by the treachery of his 
wayward but beloved son. He gathered his family to- 
gether with his immediate friends and set forth. It was a 
sad procession that passed down over the Kedron and 
across the slopes of Olivet ; Zadok and the Levites bear- 
ing the ark, followed by the king barefoot and casting 
ashes upon his head. Behind them they heard the shouts 
of the people as they welcomed Hotspur to the throne, 
" Long live the king !" Now surely would begin the 
golden age. 

The last chapter — at Mahanaim, beyond the Jordan. 
Here David had entrenched himself, and a constantly in- 
creasing army had gathered about him. It was now 
rumored that Absalom was on his way hither to dislodge 



84 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

him. The battle would be joined to-day. The followers 
of David entreat him not to jeopardize his life in the 
high places of the field. He is only too willing to remain 
behind. How can he draw his sword against Absalom ? 
He takes his place beside the gate to watch, and his last 
word of injunction to his lieutenant is, " Deal gently with 
the young man." The day wears on. From the distance 
come sounds of conflict. The fire kindles in the eyes of 
the old warrior. He sits beside the gate ; naught but his 
love for Absalom could keep him here. To and fro the 
battle rages, until at length Absalom's army is turned to 
flight. In the wood of Ephraim he is caught by his long 
hair in the boughs of the terebinth. The enemy ride past 
in swift pursuit, forbearing to slay him because he is the 
Lord's anointed. Then Joab comes, his eyes aflame with 
the fury of battle, and thrusts three darts through Absa- 
lom's breast, and leaves him dangling there betwixt 
heaven and earth. Meanwhile the old king is waiting 
beside the gate. A messenger appears, running fast. 
" News, O king !" he cries. But what cares David for 
news save of his wayward son ? " Is the young man Ab- 
salom safe ?" And the herald, whose heart is full of com- 
passion for the king, says, " There was a tumult, but I 
knew not what it was." But here comes another herald 
running, a Cushite, in whose heart is no tenderness. 
" News, O king !" The old man rises and eagerly ques- 
tions him : " Is it well with the young man Absalom ?" 
" May it be unto all thine enemies, O king, as it is with 
that young man." The worst is told. The old king stag- 
gers up the stairway to the chamber above the gate, wring- 
ing his hands, and moaning as he goes, " O my son Absa- 
lom, my son, my son Absalom ! Would God I had died 
for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !" 



THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN. 85 

In the flush of Absalom's prosperity he had caused a 
monument to be reared in the king's dale. It was doubt- 
less an imposing marble shaft. He hoped that after his 
death posterity would write his splendid achievements 
upon it. Let us trace up the practical lessons of this 
wayward life upon the blank faces of that pillar to-day. 

I. On one side let us inscribe, " The fathers have eaten 
a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge!' 
For there is a tremendous truth in heredity. Was it 
strange that Absalom should have taken unto himself his 
father's concubines ? Or was it strange that the son of 
him who set Uriah in the forefront of the battle should 
have reddened his hands with a brother's blood ? The 
fury of the tiger passes on to the tiger's cub. No man 
liveth unto himself, and, alas ! no man dieth unto himself. 
We are like Alpine tourists, bound together in such a way 
that if one goes down the others must take heed lest they 
go tumbling after him. 

II. On the second face of the monument let us write, 
" The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth his mo- 
ther \ the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the 
young eagles shall eat it." If Absalom was, at times, 
ashamed of his father, was that to be wondered at ? Da- 
vid was a shepherd, and the smell of the meadows was 
always upon him. He had old-fashioned ideas of God 
and goodness. He was scarcely familiar with what his 
exquisite son would have called the finesse or accomplish- 
ments of social life. In the great city there is many a 
youth who can sympathize with him. You walk along 
Broadway with your old father who has come in from the 
country to visit you. His coat is out of fashion ; his face 
is sunburnt ; his hands callous ; he stands agape at the 
show-windows or fearful at the street - crossings ; you 



86 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

smile, and are — just a little — ashamed of him. But that 
tawny hand, my boy, kept the wolf from the door when 
you were lying in your cradle, and one reason why his 
trowsers " bag at the knee " is because he has been kneel- 
ing in prayer for you. God pity the man who, for fashion 
or grammar, goes back on the father that begat him. 
Take heed of that " command with promise " given us 
long ago : " Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee." 

III. On the third side of the pillar let us write, " Poli- 
cy vs. Principle." I hate that word policy. We say 
" honesty is the best policy," but the Lord have mercy 
upon a man who can put his honesty upon no higher 
plane ! An ounce of principle is worth a ton of prudence. 
No doubt Absalom was praised again and again for his 
cleverness, and he was exceeding popular too. It is a 
dangerous thing to be popular. Not long ago I attended 
our class reunion at Yale, at which each was expected to 
give an account of his life during the years that had 
passed since we sang with each other under the elms. 
In the course of the night the president called upon one 
who was known for his genial qualities, and spoke of him 
as "always a good fellow." "I don't thank you for 
that," said he, as he arose. " You mean kindly, I know. 
I was a good fellow in college. I tried to be a good fel- 
low, and it was almost the death of me. For fifteen 
years after graduation I posed as a good fellow, when a 
thunderbolt from heaven went through my heart and 
conscience, and since then, for ten glorious years, I have 
tried to be a square man. You," he said, turning to 
the president of the evening, " have a boy going to col- 
lege next year. Tell him, for me, to take heed of the 



THE CAREER OF A FAST YOUNG MAN. 8/ 

danger that lies in being called a good fellow. Tell him 
there is nothing like manliness." Would that all our 
lads set out for college with that conviction. Oh, young 
men, be true to duty ! Be true to God and to your fellow- 
men. Be true to yourselves, for nothing outside of divine 
revelation was ever more wisely said than this : 
" To thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 

IV. On the fourth face of the monument in the king's 
dale let us inscribe," The name of the wicked shall rot." Ab- 
salom had hoped for a splendid sepulture. There should 
be mourning when he died, the people saying — "A great 
man has fallen in Israel this day." They should bring 
wreaths and lay upon his bier. Loud wailings should 
follow him to his tomb. Instead of this, his grave was 
a pit in the wood of Ephraim into which he was cast 
with three arrows sticking through his breast. A heap 
of stones is shown to this day in the Valley of Jehoshaphat 
as Absalom's tomb, and every Jew who passes by hurls a 
missile at it, with the malediction, " Cursed be Absalom, 
and all his children after him." 

We cannot, however, leave the matter at this point. 
Let us inscribe about the pedestal of this pillar, "Fear 
God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole 
duty of man!' It may be that there are some here who 
have been living wayward lives. Indeed, we all have 
wandered too far. Some have been in the far country, 
wasting their substance in riotous living. Thank God, it 
is not too late to mend. Out of our boyhood comes ring- 
ing the word that fell upon the ears of Dick Whittington, 
as he was trudging out of London weary and heart-sore : 
" Turn again, Whittington ! Turn again, Whittington ! 



88 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Lord Mayor of London !" God is very patient with his 
wayward ones. Me does not cry, " Would God I had 
died for thee." He dies for us that he may save us. 
lie does not cry* " O Absalom^ my son ! would God I 
had died for thee/' but, " O Ephraim ! how can I give 
thee Up ?" And he stretches forth his hands in constant 
entreaty, saying, "As I live, I have no pleasure in the 
death of the wicked. Turn ye ! Turn ye ! For why will 
ye die ?" Yonder is the cross, to heal the wounds of the 
past. The blood cleanseth. The sins that were as scarlet 
shall be white as snow; the sins that were as crimson 
shall be as wool. The past is gone ; the future beckons. 
Let us forget the things which are behind, by the mer- 
cies of God as manifest in Jesus Christ, and, reaching 
forth unto the things which are before, let us press to- 
ward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus, our Lord. 



AT THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 89 



AT THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 



"And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on 
the horns of the altar." i Kings 2:28. 

We have no occasion to waste sympathy on this man. 
He richly deserved all that befell him. His name, Joab, 
an abbreviation of " Jehovah- Abbah," has in it a sugges- 
tion of loyalty to God ; but what 's in a name ? Many a 
John, James, Peter, Theodore, or Christopher has served 
the Prince of Darkness. So here. Joab was a man of 
blood. He assassinated Abner in the gate of Hebron. 
He met his friend Amasa in the way and greeted him, 
"Art thou in health, my brother ?" — meanwhile fumbling 
for his dagger with which he thrust him under the fifth 
rib. No one else dared kill Absalom, as he hung by his 
glossy hair from the boughs of the terebinth, until this 
Joab came ; he, without the slightest compunction, thrust 
three arrows through his breast. O, he was a bloody 
man ! His girdle was smeared with blood ; his sandals 
were sprinkled with it. But let even Joab have his due. 
He was loyal to his king, faithful always among the faith- 
less. He scrupled at nothing. When David wished to 
dispose of Uriah he placed the matter before his com- 
mander-in-chief, who said at once, " Give yourself no 
trouble, I will attend to it." But now his violent dealing 
came down upon his own pate. The old king was dying ; 
he called Solomon to his bedside, and reminding him how 
Joab had shed the blood of war in time of peace and had 
put blood upon the girdle of his loins, he added, " Let not 



90 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

his hoar head go down to the grave in peace." Accord- 
ingly, while Jerusalem was ringing with the cry, " The 
king is dead ! Long live the king !" the order went forth, 
" Let Joab die." 

And whither shall he flee ? Not a home in Jerusalem 
will harbor him. There is not a cave in all Judaea where 
he can hide himself. One place only gives promise of 
security — the sanctuary at the horns of the altar. It is 
pleasant to reflect that God's altar has always been a 
refuge for the poor in his distress: even "the swallow 
hath found a nest for herself" under its cornice. The 
right of sanctuary is as old as the church itself. In the 
Middle Ages all sorts of evil doers took refuge in sacred 
places. Thieves and murderers were protected in the 
convents for forty days, when they were given up to the 
officers of justice. If, however, during those forty days 
the malefactor gave notice that he wished to leave Eng- 
land, he was stripped of his outer garments, a crucifix was 
placed in his hands, and he was thus conducted to the 
nearest port. If no ship was in waiting, he was required 
to walk into the sea thrice, up to his throat, in the name of 
the Holy Trinity; after which the ship which next ap- 
peared must give him passage across the sea. 

It was in pursuance of this ancient right of sanctuary 
that Joab now clung trembling to the altar. Will this 
save him ? Let us leave him there for a moment. There 
are helpful lessons to be drawn from his abject attitude. 
He is a type of the sinner trembling under the sentence 
of the violated law. 

I. Here is a suggestion of the ruling passion. We 
are all cowards in the last reduction. Napoleon, who 
faced the allied armies of all Europe, was afraid of a 
mouse ; and Wellington, who shrank not from confront- 



AT THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 9 1 

ing Napoleon, dared not snuff a candle, so fearful was he 
of a little pain. Fear is the ruling passion of the race. 
The curse of Pashur has come upon us. He was that 
governor who " smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put 
him in the stocks. " On the morrow when the prophet 
was released he said unto him, " The Lord has called thy 
name Magor-missabib ;" i. e., " Fear all about thee," and 
from that time the rustle of a leaf alarmed him. 

But fear is a safeguard when there is real danger, and 
indeed our fears are oftentimes well grounded. 1. Our lives 
are in danger. This orb on which we live is whizzing 
through space with a rapidity far beyond that of the fast- 
est railway train. Its axial speed is one thousand miles 
an hour; its orbital speed is a thousand miles a minute. 
Think of it ! The vehicle is charged with explosives 
and combustibles. At the centre is a sea of molten 
metal. Every cubic inch of its enveloping ether has 
in it the potency of Euroclydon. Every drop of dew 
that falls upon its surface has a sleeping cyclone in it. 
The pestilence walketh in darkness. The rising dust 
of the thoroughfare is laden with microbes of fever. In 
case of an unexpected death we cry, " Strange that he 
went so suddenly;" but in reality the strange thing 
is not that the man dies, but that he lives for two con- 
secutive instants. It could not be but for God's prov- 
idence. " In him we live, and move, and have our being." 
His eye is upon this rolling world. He holds us in the 
hollow of his hand. Not a sparrow falleth to the ground 
without his notice. We go about our common tasks with 
a feeling of security because we are divinely cared for. 
We can trust God. 2. Of greater importance, however, 
is our spiritual danger. I say, " We are sinners," and no 
one trembles ; and yet every one of us would shake like 



92 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

an aspen leaf if he realized the full meaning of it, for sin is 
yoked with death. As it is written, " The soul that sin- 
neth, it shall die." Now and then a man comes to a 
sudden apprehension of this fact, and he beats upon his 
breast and utters a sudden cry, " God be merciful !" Or, 
like the jailor of Philippi, " What shall I do ?" If all alike, 
at a common instant, were to realize the exceeding sinful- 
ness of sin, and the tremendous fact that death comes fol- 
lowing after, the very wheels of commerce would stand 
still ; men would be found wringing their hands and kneel- 
ing in our streets. The cry, "Miserere /" would be heard, 
as during the Lisbon earthquake : The Lord have mercy 
upon us ! As it is, our ears are dull and our eyes hood- 
winked : so we go whistling to our tasks in the workshop, 
or sit singing in our homes, as if all were well — and the 
great multitude, one a second, lock-step, quick-step, pass 
out into the night. This was the tremendous truth that 
came to Charles Wesley while he stood at Land's End, 
with one ocean rolling on this side and another on that : 

" Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 
'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand, 

Secure, insensible. 
A point of time, a moment's space, 
Removes me to that heavenly place — 

Or shuts me up in hell ! 

" O God, my inmost soul convert, 
And deeply on my thoughtful heart 

Eternal things impress ; 
Give me to feel their solemn weight, 
And save me ere it be too late ; 

Wake me to righteousness !" 

II. There is a sure refuge ; only one. Let us make 
no mistake at this point. The Lord says, " When I shall 



AT THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 93 

lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plum- 
met, the hail shall sweep away their refuges of lies and the 
waters shall overthrow the hiding-place." 

One of these refuges of lies is bravado. There are 
those who speak lightly of death and judgment. I passed 
but yesterday a group of young men on the corner of the 
street ; they were earnestly engaged in conversation ; one 
of them made some startling remark, to which another 
responded in a single word, and then all laughed. That 
word was " Hell !" Only cowards do that. The time 
will come when that young man, confronting the dread- 
ful reality of which he spoke so bravely, will cry out for 
mercy to God. It is an awful thing to trifle with any 
truth, but to make merry about the tremendous things of 
eternity is to run upon the bosses of the shield of God. 

Another of the false refuges is indifference. It has 
pleased God to address us with many voices of warning 
and invitation. It is possible, however, to hush them all. 
The epitaph of an ancient city was written in the words, 
"Deleta Silenlia." The legend runs that its prince, having 
been alarmed once and again without cause, gave com- 
mand that no word of evil tidings should be brought on 
penalty of death. He spent his days in comfortable ease 
and his nights in pleasure. The enemy came ; the sen- 
tinel over the gate saw the approaching host, yet dared 
not sound the tocsin. His master was startled from his 
comfort by the shrieks of the dying when his palace 
was in flames and his city in the hands of his foes — 
deleta silentia — destroyed by silence ! Thus many a 
soul, suppressing all the kindly influences from above, 
has gone on smiling towards death. 

Another of the refuges of lies is trust in the divine indul- 
gence. " God is love !" How fluently it falls from the 



94 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

lips of those who otherwise deride him. True, God is 
love, but God is justice too, and holiness and truth. And 
his love and justice, his holiness and truth, all alike stand 
pledged to the integrity of that law, " The soul that sin- 
neth, it shall die." It is not possible that God by reason 
of his love should interfere with the operation of the 
just and salutary law, for that would be in the nature of 
a suicidal act ; nor can he because he loves men prevent 
the sovereign freedom of the human will. 

" Though God be good, and free be heaven, 

Not force divine can love compel ; 
And though the songs of sins forgiven 

May sound through lowest hell, 
The sweet persuasion of his voice 

Respects the sanctity of will. 
He giveth day. Thou hast thy choice 

To walk in darkness still." 

Another of the false shelters is self -righteousness. 
Not now the self-righteousness of those who live incon- 
sistently within the church, but of those who lean upon 
their personal merit and feel in no need of church, of 
Christian fellowship, of prayer, or of the mercy of God. 
Sin has slain its thousands, but such morality its tens oi 
thousands. He that keepeth the law shall indeed live by 
it, but his obedience must be flawless, for to offend in one 
point is to break the whole law. No man is without sin, 
but no sin-defiled man can enter the kingdom of God. 
So it is written, " All our righteousnesses are as filthy 
rags." Our boasted merit is likened to a broken reed, on 
which if a man lean it will pierce through his hand ; and 
again, " The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch 
himself upon it and the covering is narrower than that a 
man can wrap himself in it." We are sufficiently warned. 



AT THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 95 

11 By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." 
There is no difference; " we have all sinned, and come 
short of the glory of God." 

And still another of the false refuges is the chttrch. 
No man is saved by the church. It is indeed a divine 
institution and greatly loved of God. The church is his 
bride; He has graven her name on the palms of his 
hands. It is not the bride, however, but the Bridegroom 
that saves us. Thus Joab was torn from the very horns 
of the altar and slain. The right of sanctuary could not 
deliver him. In the last day there will be multitudes 
who will knock and cry, " Lord, Lord, open unto us : we 
have worshiped in thy sanctuary: we have been en- 
rolled in the company of thy saints : we have wrought 
many wonderful works in thy name." And he from 
within shall answer, " Depart ; I never knew you." 

We come now to the one sure refuge : the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, His blood cleanseth, and without the 
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. He that 
believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. His 
word is our assurance : " I give unto them eternal life, 
and no man shall pluck them out of my hand." No grim 
Benaiah shall tear the penitent from this altar on Gol- 
gotha. Death and hell with their sinewy arms shall not 
prevail against him. He is safe. Safe for ever, because 
his life is hid with Christ in God. 

At the opening of the sixth seal the earth reels and 
totters ; the heavens are rolled up like a scroll ; and the 
stars fall as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs. Then all 
the cemeteries of the earth yield up their dead and multi- 
tudes are heard calling upon the rocks and the mountains 
to fall upon them and hide them from the face of the In- 
finite One. But who are those, an innumerable host, 



96 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

travelling towards the shining gates and singing as they 
go? These are they that have come up out of great 
tribulation, and they go to stand before the throne of God 
with palms in their hands, because they have washed their 
robes in the Lamb's blood and made them white. Oh ! 
may we stand among them, the ransomed of the Lord, 
going to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their 
heads. 

We point you to Calvary. There is no other refuge 
against the day that trieth the souls of men. The God of 
the cross, with his hands stretched out, is a help to the 
poor and the needy in his distress ; a refuge from the 
storm and a shadow from the heat when the blast of the 
terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 

" Beneath the cross of Jesus 
I fain would take my stand — 
The shadow of a mighty rock, 
Within a weary land. 
There lies beneath its shadow, 
But on the further side, 
The darkness of an awful grave 
That gapes both deep and wide ; 
And there between us stands the cross, 
Two arms outstretched to save, 
Like a watchman set to guard the way 
From that eternal grave. 
O safe and happy shelter! 
O refuge tried and sweet ! 
O trysting-place where heaven's love 
And heaven's justice meet ! 
As to the Holy Patriarch 
That wondrous dream was given, 
So seems my Saviour's cross to me 
A ladder up to heaven." 



" WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE." 97 

"WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE." 

A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION. 



"Seek, and ye shall find." Matt. y:j. 

" Run ye to and fro, and see now if there be any that seeketh the 

truth." Jer. 5:1. 
" For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 

who will have all men to come unto the knowledge of the 

truth." 1 Tim. 2:4. 
"Jesus saith, ' I am the truth.' " John 14:6. 
" Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of 

Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the East to 

Jerusalem, saying, ' Where is he that is born king of the Jews ? 

for we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship 

him.'" Matt. 2:1-2. 

The king of Judea was troubled. It was rumored 
that about this time a prince was to be born, in fulfillment 
of prophecy, who would assume the Jewish throne. Ta- 
citus declares that the opinion was prevalent in the East 
that the Messiah of Israel was about to appear. Virgil 
had written his Fourth Eclogue, in which he announced 
the near approach of the golden age. A feeling of ex- 
pectancy was prevalent everywhere. Herod was an old 
man, but still tenacious of his ill-gotten power. He was 
an apostate Jew, who long ago had forsaken the religion 
of his fathers to enter the service of the Roman govern- 
ment. His career had been a brilliant one. A protege of 
Antony, he had, at a very early age, been made governor 
of Galilee and afterward tetrarch of Judea. He was a man 
of vast ambition ; shrewd, cunning, and of violent pas- 
sions ; not above the tricks of a demagogue, he was never- 
7 



g8 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

theless possessed of much cleverness and a vast executive 
ability. To please his royal master, he built the splendid 
city of Caesarea. To conciliate the Jews, whom he hated, 
he rebuilt their temple and splendidly adorned it. 

In the porch of this temple the old king was walking 
on a February morning nearly 1,900 years ago. His 
purple robes sparkled with gems and precious stones ; a 
glorious ruby blazed in his turban ; but his restless eyes 
betrayed a troubled heart. Off yonder, beyond the Ked- 
ron, a group of venerable strangers drew near ; their long 
garments covered with dust. They would have attracted 
attention anywhere. Entering at the eastern or Shushan 
gate they climbed the marble stairway of the temple, 
entered Solomon's porch, and would have passed on into 
the inner courts but for the admonition of a Levite, who 
pointed to an inscription on the middle wall of partition : 
"Let no Gentile or unclean person enter here under penalty 
of death. " Arrested by this rebuff, they said, " We 
have come from the far East, seeking him who is born 
King of the Jews. Tell us where we may find him." 
A moment later they were engaged in conversation 
with Herod. " Whence come ye ?" "From the East." 
"And your errand?" "To find the promised King 
of the Jews." " It is a fool's errand ; I alone am king 
of the Jews." " Nay, we cannot be mistaken, for we 
have come under divine guidance." And thereupon they 
told their story — how as they were watching the stars 
according to their custom, and meditating on the great 
promise of the coming Deliverer, a new luminary wheeled 
into view and seemed to beckon them. Was this a har- 
binger of that event for which they looked ? While they 
wondered, it moved on towards the west and they arose 
and followed it. Their hope had been that the Jewish 



"WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE." 99 

Prince would be found in the Holy City, and they were 
amazed to find that nothing was here known of him. 
The wise men were detained while at Herod's order the 
members of the Sanhedrin came together to consult as to 
the rumored birth of this prince. They agreed as to the 
prophecy ; the event was to occur in Bethlehem : " And 
thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least 
among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come 
a Governor that shall rule my people Israel." The wise 
men were then permitted to resume their journey, with a 
parting injunction that they should return and report as 
to the success of their singular quest. As they set out, 
lo, yonder in the heavens the star moved along before 
them, and they followed with great joy. 

We may find profit in the contemplation oi these pil- 
grims. From time immemorial they have been regarded 
as kings : 

"We three kings of Orient are, 
Bearing gifts, we traverse afar 
Field and fountain, moor and mountain, 
Following yonder star." 

In the cathedral at Cologne there is a golden reliquary in 
which are preserved, in the odor of sanctity, the relics 
of these men. I said to the venerable monk in attend- 
ance, " Do you really believe that these are the relics of 
the wise men?" "Oh, yes," he replied, " there is no 
question whatever as to their genuineness ; we know their 
names — Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. The Venerable 
Bede tells all about them." There is, however, a consid- 
erable doubt — to put it mildly — as to the trustworthiness 
of the legends which have gathered about these Magi. 
We have no reason to suppose they were kings, but we 
know they were truth-seekers ; and, as Cromwell said to 



IOO THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

his daughter, " To be a truth-seeker is to be one of the 
best sect, next to a truth-finder." 

I. The quest. Wisdom is the principal thing, and 
there is nothing better than to get understanding. All 
truth is worth having. We blame our children for being 
inquisitive. But why ? John Locke said, " The way to 
get knowledge is to ask questions." A wiser still has 
said, "Seek, and ye shall find." The cure for doubt 
is not a hoodwink, but a telescope. All truth is worth 
the having, and, therefore, worth the seeking. " Eureka !" 
cried Archimedes over a certain mathematical discovery. 
In all the world there is no pursuit so ennobling, so in- 
spiring and so gladdening as the pursuit of truth. This 
holds in all the provinces, but especially in the province 
of spiritual things. 

It is related of Edmund of Canterbury, who was 
deeply interested in secular researches, that one night as 
he was poring over an ancient parchment the spirit of 
his dead mother came to him and made three circles upon 
the palm of his hand, in token of the Holy Trinity, saying 
as she vanished, " Be this the purpose of thy life." These 
three circles do indeed embrace all. The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of wisdom — and the end also. God is 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. To know 
him is life eternal. 

A man is in his noblest attitude when confronting the 
great spiritual verities. In this we are distinguished from 
the lower orders of life. We are able to touch the tre- 
mendous problems and measurably to solve them ; and 
herein is the sweetest of life's delights. Lord Bacon said, 
" It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and see ships 
tossing far away upon the sea ; it is a pleasure to stand in 
the castle window and look down upon the battle and the 



" WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE. IOI 

adventures thereof; but no pleasure is comparable to the 
standing upon the vantage ground of truth and beholding 
spiritual things." 

IL The harbinger. God helps every man who ear- 
nestly desires to solve the problem of destiny. To these 
wise men he gave the guiding star. A vast amount of 
erudition has been spent in the attempt to get rid of the 
supernatural in these premises. It is said that a remark- 
able conjunction of certain planets occurred at about this 
time. In 1604 Kepler saw in the heavens a phenomenon 
which occurs only once in nearly a thousand years : Sat- 
urn and Jupiter were in conjunction ; presently Mars also 
wheeled into line, thus forming " a fiery Trygon in Pisces." 
The constellation of Pisces, or the Fish, was regarded as 
symbolical of Judea. The fish was also used by the early 
Christians as an anagram of Christ. Thus the " fiery Try- 
gon " was identified with the star of Bethlehem. It is a 
fascinating hypothesis, but unfortunately ( 1 ) it did not 
occur at the precise time of the advent ; and (2) being at 
an altitude of fifty-seven degrees it could not have 
paused over a village or a particular home. We are, 
therefore, led to regard the star as a special messenger — 
an angel with a torch, as it were — sent to direct these 
wise men in their earnest quest. So God interposes 
in behalf of every sincere seeker for truth. " Seek, and 
ye shall find." Seek, good friend, and you shall find. 
God is on your side. Be of good courage. 

It was many years ago that a butcher's boy went sing- 
ing ribald songs about the streets of Nottingham. A taste 
for knowledge brought him to Cambridge University, 
where he distinguished himself not only for his cleverness 
as a student but as a reviler of Christ. By the unexpect- 
ed death of a companion he was brought to think seri- 



102 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ously of eternal things; his sins weighed heavily upon 
him ; but at Calvary he found pardon. In the early flush 
of his conversion he wrote his gratitude in the familiar 
hymn : 

' ' Once on the raging seas I rode ; 

The storm was loud, the night was dark, 
The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed 

The wind that tossed my foundering bark. 
Deep horror then my vitals froze ; 

Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem, 
When suddenly a star arose : 
It was the Star of Bethlehem ! 

" It was my guide, my light, my all ; 

It bade my dark forebodings cease, 
And through the storm and dangers thrall 

It led me to the port of peace. 
Now safely moored, my perils o'er, 

I'll sing, first in night's diadem, 
For ever and forevermore, 

The Star, the Star of Bethlehem !" 

God never yet left a man in the lurch who sincerely desired 
to solve the problem of destiny. It is a true saying, " A 
seeking sinner finds a seeking Saviour." Somewhere in 
heaven the star is set that calls and beckons to the fount- 
ain of life. 

III. The trectsure-trove. The wise men have reached 
their destination. All the divinely kindled stars lead to 
Bethlehem. Here is the end of the great quest. The 
star that guided the Magi rested over a humble cottage. 
They entered and found the Christ-child — a child upon 
its mother's breast ! Is that all ? Ay, all — and everything ! 
In this child all the streams of prophecy converge. From 
this child radiate all the glowing lines of history. On the 
walls of the palace at Versailles, in a series of magnificent 
battle scenes, are portrayed the glories of France. In this 



" WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE. T IO3 

humble home at Bethlehem all the hopes of Abraham, the 
dreams of David and the visions of Isaiah are realized. 
This cottage is the centre of the world. 

Are you, friend, seeking the truth ? Follow your star. 
Hearken when God speaks. " There are so many voices, 
and none of them is without signification. " It is easy to 
quench all lights, to hush all voices ; but hearken and 
give heed. Bethlehem is not far ahead. " Press on I" as 
Cromwell, the Lord Protector, said to his daughter, " press 
on, dear heart, and thou shalt find the satisfying portion. 
Let nothing cool thine ardor until thou find it." 

So here are the Magi opening their packs before the 
Christ-child. The search is over ; the problem of destiny 
is solved. Here is gold for the King ; here is myrrh for 
the Victor ; here is frankincense for very God of very 
God. We are passing through the days of giving. We 
are celebrating now the infinite grace that lavished upon 
us the unspeakable gift, and what shall we render in re- 
turn ? I beseech you, brethren, by his great mercy, that 
ye present yourselves, a living sacrifice : which is your 
reasonable service. The best is none too good for God. 



104 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

SANDALS FOR THE JOURNEY 

A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 



" Thy shoes shall be iron and brass ; and as thy days, so shall thy 
strength be." Deut. 33:25. 

The long- journey was over. For a period of forty 
weary years the children of Israel had been going to and 
fro through the wilderness on their way to the promised 
land. The infants that had been carried out of Egypt in 
their mothers' arms were full-grown men and women. 
The desert path was lined on either side with graves. The 
word now comes to Moses, " Behold, the days approach 
that thou must die." He maps out the promised inherit- 
ance and assigns it. He delivers the book of Deuteron- 
omy as his valedictory to the people, and then sets out 
alone upon the mountain path. He betrays no tokens of 
age. His step is light, his eye undimmed, and his natural 
force unabated. The people watch him as he climbs to- 
wards the summit of Nebo. He pauses, at length, and 
looks about him. The white tents are below him in the 
valley. To the south lies the wilderness ; to the west the 
land flowing with milk and honey. It is said that under 
such conditions a man's life passes swiftly before him ; it 
may be that Moses lived over again his sojourn in the palace 
of the Pharaohs and the years of waiting in the Desert of 
Midian. He saw again the burning bush ; he stood again 
before the murmuring people at Rephidim, and smote the 
rock in anger. He lifted his eyes toward the green fields 



SANDALS FOR THE JOURNEY. 105 

beyond the Jordan. Oh, if he might but enter in ! Then 
the earthly scene faded from his sight. Far in the heavens 
was heard the singing of the angels ; the air was filled with 
the rustling of wings ; the sound waxed louder and louder ; 
it rolled over him, folded him in, caught him up, and lo ! 
Moses was at home with God ! 

It was as he climbed the mountain path that he turned 
to lay his benediction on the tribes. Is it not strange that, 
of all the blessings, the best was that which fell to Asher : 
the tribe that had wrought no memorable deed, out of 
which had come no hero or mighty one ? Great was the 
blessing on little Benjamin : " He shall dwell between the 
Lord's shoulders." And that of Joseph, " His horns shall 
be like the horns of a unicorn, with which he shall push 
his enemies." And of Zebulun, " The abundance of the 
seas and treasures hid in the sands " shall be his. And 
Jeshurun, " The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath 
are the everlasting arms." But with the memory of that 
long journey in mind, the thirst and weariness, the blazing 
sun, the scorching sands, there was no blessing like this : 
" Thy shoes shall be iron and brass under thy feet ; and 
as thy days, so shall thy strength be." 

We stand at the threshold of another year. The past 
is irrevocable. The Lord grant pardon for all its sins and 
short-comings ! The future is before us. We may not 
draw the curtain. It is a terra incognita — an unknown 
land. How shall we prepare ourselves to go up into it ? 

I. We know that tasks await us. The life of a true 
disciple of Christ is not a sinecure. His prayer for us is 
that we may bear fruit — much fruit — more fruit. Mere 
passive piety is scarcely better than none at all. If we are 
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we may not shrink from 
cares and burdens and responsibilities. Yet who is suffi- 



106 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

cient for these things ? If we set out alone and unpre- 
pared the journey will be too much for us. 

We need a pair of sandals. Here they are — weakness 
and strength, Plato said, " Self-dependence is the secret 
of a successful life." On the contrary, it brings a sure 
failure. Did you ever try to pluck a cockle from the 
rocks ? It is the very symbol of weakness, and yet it re- 
sists all your efforts to disturb it. The tempest that thun- 
ders against the rocks rolls past without dislodging it. 
Where is the secret of its strength ? Its weakness. The 
vacuum beneath this tiny shell is what secures it. So it 
is the emptying of a Christian soul that prepares it for the 
enduement of strength. When I am weak then am I 
strong. My weakness — God's strength ; these are the 
sandals wherewith we journey successfully along the path 
of duty. Here is the secret of Paul's efficiency. He was 
troubled with a thorn in the flesh. It may have been some 
physical infirmity, as many suppose ; or it may have been 
a repugnant duty, or a responsibility beyond his seeming 
strength. Of this thing he says, " I besought the Lord 
thrice that it might depart from me." In vain ; it was the 
Lord's pleasure that his disciple should bear this burden. 
Wherefore he said, " My grace is sufficient for thee ; for 
my strength is made perfect in weakness." Then Paul 
began to sing, " Most gladly will I glory in my infirmity, 
that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He had 
added to a sense of personal weakness an assurance of 
divine strength, and thus shod for duty he might fear- 
lessly approach his tasks: " I take pleasure in infirmities, 
in reproaches, in necessities, for Christ's sake ; for when I 
am weak then am I strong." 

II. Temptations are before us. This must needs be. 
The grapes must be pressed or there will be no wine. 



SANDALS FOR THE JOURNEY. 107 

The gold must be tried in the furnace. The bell must be 
beaten with sledges before it is hung in the tower. Blessed 
is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried 
he shall receive — character ; the crown of life. 

Here again we are provided with a pair of sandals ; to 
wit, a present God a?id a true Bible. We are never alone 
in the hour of trial unless we choose to be. A wrong- 
doer says, " I could n't help it; the temptation was great- 
er than I could bear." This is not true. It is never true. 
The word of the Lord assures us to the contrary. " God is 
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that 
ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way 
of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." The old 
story of the three Babylonish youths is ever being re- 
peated. They were true to principle : " Be it known 
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods ; and 
the form of the king's visage was changed against them. 
The furnace was heated " seven times more than it was 
wont to be heated " and the faithful youths were cast into 
the midst of it ; but the fire would not kindle upon them. 
In the midst of it they walked unscathed — in their coats, 
their hosen, and their hats. Then the king was aston- 
ished, and rose up in haste, and cried, " Did ye not cast 
three men into the midst of the fire ? Lo, there are four, 
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Nay, 
the fourth was the Son of God ; the same whose promise 
is sure for ever: " Lo, lam with you alway; I will not 
leave you alone, I will come to you." If we yield to temp- 
tation it is because we refuse his help. For he is not far 
from every one of us. 

But for our double strengthening we have, besides this 
present Christ, the strong staff of his word to lean on. 
He himself took with him the sword of the Spirit when 



I08 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

he went out into the wilderness to be tempted. Thrice it 
flashed in the air — " It is written, " Man shall not live by- 
bread alone ;" " It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God ; and him only shalt thou serve ;" " It is written, 
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God " — and thrice the 
adversary fell back before it. Let the mind that was in 
Christ Jesus be also in us. If a man lose his confidence 
in the Scriptures as the veritable word of God he is like 
a soldier whose sword is broken at the hilt. Stand fast 
by the oracles, O follower of Christ! It is poor busi- 
ness for a believer to join in belated controversies as to 
the truth of the Scriptures. The Lord himself spoke 
never a word against the integrity of the book, but used 
it, expounded it, believed it, gloried in it. The disciple 
is not above his Lord. If you would be strong in the 
bitter hour of trial, drink at the crystal stream that "flows 
fast by the oracles of God." A Bible Christian is a strong 
Christian. Be shod with this preparation of the gospel— 
this pair of sandals : a present God, a trustworthy Bible — 
that you may withstand in the evil day. 

III. There are sorrows before us. And where shall 
we find comfort ? It is but grim consolation to say, with 
Eliphaz, " Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly up- 
ward." There is a point where the proverb " Misery 
loves company " ceases to avail and stoicism becomes a 
broken reed. It is related that a Hindoo mother, be- 
reaved in the death of her only child, took the little body 
in her arms and went to and fro among the sacred teach- 
ers asking for something to restore its life. One of the 
sages said to her, " Pluck a handful of mustard from the 
garden of a home where sorrow never entered." Up and 
down the bereaved mother went in vain. One home was 
mourning for a father, another for a child ; but none was 



SANDALS FOR THE JOURNEY. 1 09 

found where sorrow had not entered. At length she 
came to the Buddha and told her pitiful tale. " The dead 
are many," said he, " the living are few ; go find thy com- 
fort in tears." Is this the best that the Christless world 
can offer ? Aye. But there is something better for us. 

A pair of sandals for sorrow. Namely — God knows ; 
and, it shall work for us afar more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. Aye, God knows. There is blessed 
strength in that. A lad in one of our deaf and dumb asy- 
lums was asked by a visitor, " Who made the world ?" 
He wrote upon his slate, " In the beginning God created 
the heavens and the earth." Then he was asked, " How 
do you hope to be saved ?" To which he answered, 
" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 
Once more : " How is it that, when the world is full of 
happy children, you have been deprived of speech and 
hearing?" The lad wrote in reply, "Even so, Father, 
for so it seemeth good in thy sight." This is coming near 
to the Infinite Heart. This is drinking out of the wells of 
salvation indeed. God is not the author of our calamities. 
He does not go up and down scattering the germs of pes- 
tilence ; this is the devil's work. But there is a sense in 
which God is present always in the midst of pain and 
sorrow. It does not spring up out of the ground. It 
does not come to pass without his permissive decree. He 
controls it, restrains it, and in the long run makes all 
things work together for good to them that love him. 

And our affliction after all is " light, and but for a mo- 
ment," in view of what lies beyond. A glance at the starry 
heavens reveals ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, 
and the longer we gaze the more come wheeling into 
view. " The floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines 



IIO THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

of bright gold/ ' Our world is one of millions — count- 
less millions, floating like a vast armada on yonder infi- 
nite sea. How little this world seems. How infinitesimal ! 
So is time in relation to eternity. So is the pain of to- 
day to the glory of to-morrow. Our life is but a hand- 
breadth. Eternity ; eternity ; how long art thou ! The 
soul that has fled this moment from the vicissitudes 
of time into the glories of the unseen world is looking 
back and wondering ; wondering, above all, that the pains 
and heartaches seemed so vast and insufferable. Oh! 
friends, they are light. They are but for a moment. The 
pearly gates throw their light this way. The hands of 
the angels beckon to a world where tears are wiped away 
forever. We can wait and be patient. " Bide a wee and 
dinna fret." Heaven is not far off". 

Thus we set out, shod with the preparation of the gos- 
pel, to meet the tasks and duties and sorrows of the year. 
" Fear not," saith the Lord, " I will be with thee ; be not 
dismayed, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee ; yea, 
I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right 
hand of my righteousness." 

Let us make sure, however, that we set out aright. 
The beginning of a journey is in taking the first step. No 
man is ready to meet the vicissitudes of the coming year 
who has not thrown off his burden of sin. When Chris- 
tian set out from the City of Destruction he bore his bur- 
den with him until he came to a hill on which was a cross, 
and at the foot of the cross an open sepulchre. As he 
drew nigh his load was loosened from his shoulders and 
rolled into the sepulchre, where, as he says, " It fell in, and 
I saw it no more." Then was his heart glad and light- 
some, and he cried, " He hath given me rest by his sor- 
row, and life by his death." Fojt a while he gazed in 



SANDALS FOR THE JOURNEY. Ill 

wonder at the cross, and when he turned three shining 
ones stood beside him. One said, "Thy sins be for- 
given ;" another, " Peace be unto thee ;" and the third 
gave him a scroll with a seal upon it. Then the pilgrim 
gave three leaps for joy and went on singing ; and this 
was his song : 

" Thus far did I come laden with my sin, 
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in 
Till I came hither. What a place is this ! 
Must here be the beginning of my bliss ? 
Must here the burden fall off from my back? 
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack ? 
Blest cross ! blest sepulchre ! blest rather be 
The Man that there was put to shame for me ! 



112 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE DUTY OF FAULT-FINDING. 



" Brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye." Matt. 7:4. 

The Sermon on the Mount was everybody's sermon. 
All kinds of people were in the congregation. The Mas- 
ter had a word for the poor, the weary and heavy-laden, 
the persecuted — and for all sorts and conditions of men. 
In one particular all the members of that congregation 
were alike ; i. e., they were all sinners. Some of them 
were unclean, others dishonest; some were addicted to 
one vice, others to another ; but all alike had broken the 
moral law. But on the outskirts of the company were 
certain Pharisees who thought themselves to be better 
than others, and were universal censors — cynical, fastid- 
ious, contemptuous, and hypercritical. Here is the 
Preacher's word for them: " Judge not, that ye be not 
judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be 
judged : and with w r hat measure ye mete, it shall be 
measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the 
mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the 
beam that is in thine own eye ? Or, how wilt thou say to 
thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ; 
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou hypo- 
crite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye ; and 
then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy 
brother's eye." 

The fault-finders, like the poor, "are always with us." 
It is related that when the gods had determined to en- 
gage in the work of creation Jupiter made a man, Nep- 



THE DUTY OF FAULT-FINDING. 113 

tune a bull, and Minerva a house. Momus, standing by, 
found fault with the man because he had no window in 
his breast ; with the bull because its horns were not under 
its eyes ; and with the house because it was not upon 
wheels, so that its inmates might move away from un- 
pleasant neighbors. For this Momus was cast out of the 
divine councils, and ever since he has been among us. 
There are multitudes of people who, while doing nothing 
worth mentioning themselves, are clever in criticising the 
busy ones. 

It must not be thought, however, that fault-finding is 
in itself a sin. On the contrary, it is a duty. In the Le- 
vitical law it was required : " Thou shalt in any wise re- 
buke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." It is 
enjoined also under the new economy : " Reprove, re- 
buke, with all long-suffering and doctrine." But there is 
everything in the art of putting things. A duty may be- 
come a sin if wrongfully done. How, then, shall we rightly 
go about this matter ? How shall we find fault with our 
neighbors in such a manner as to help them and please 
God? 

I. "Cast otct the beam out of thine own eye /" for il 
the blind lead the blind they shall both fall into the 
ditch. 

It is not to be understood, however, that perfection is 
required in the fault - finder, for in this case no one 
among us could discharge the duty. We are all alike 
and there is no difference; we have all sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God. There is a Spanish 
proverb, " If our faults were written on our foreheads we 
should all have to go with our hats pulled over our eyes." 
But it is required that before a man shall rebuke another, 
in any matter whatsoever, he shall, at the least, rid him- 

The Religion of the Future, 8 



114 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

self of that particular sin. As it is written, " Wherefore 
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that 
judgest; for wherein thou judgest another thou condemn- 
est thyself, because thou doest the same thing. ,, Do not 
preach temperance with a flask in your pocket. Do not 
advocate social purity while your lips are blistered by the 
telling of unclean tales. Do not prate about political re- 
form if you remained away from the polls on last election 
day. 

It is a curious fact that we are prone to criticise in 
others the faults to which we ourselves are most liable. 
It takes a rogue to catch a rogue. In one of our lunatic 
asylums there is a poor fellow who reached the depths of 
folly by squandering his inheritance and dethroning his 
intellect, and his finger is pointed at every visitor with 
the words, " God save the fool !" So before we under- 
take this duty let us heed the injunction, " Physician, heal 
thyself." 

II. Come out from your covert : " If thy brother shall 
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between 
him and thee alone." The greatest evil is wrought by 
hints and innuendoes. Swift speaks of certain people 
who 

" Convey a libel in a frown, 

And wink a reputation down ; 

Or by the tossing of a fan 

Describe the lady and the man." 

Let us be frank and generous here. A says to B that C 
has been misbehaving himself. Then Mrs. A canvasses 
the matter with Mrs. B over their tea-cups, and presently 
the neighborhood is by the ears. Gossip is epicene: 
both sexes are alike addicted to it, and there is nothing 
meaner in all the catalogue of sins. Hear the law : " Thou 



THE DUTY OF FAULT-FINDING. 1 15 

shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy peo- 
ple : I am the Lord." Lev. 19 : 16. 

The meanest man of the olden time was Shimei, who 
had been befriended and honored by King David; but 
when adversity came, and the king, with his little retinue 
of faithful followers, went down across the Kedron bare- 
foot and casting ashes upon his head, then Shimei from 
behind the hedge cast stones at him, and cried, " Come 
out, come out, thou man of Belial !" The faithful Abishai 
asked, " Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off the head 
of this dog." But the generous king said, " It is not 
worth while." Set over against that the instance of Paul, 
who, when satisfied that Peter in withdrawing from the 
company of the Gentiles had proven false to his princi- 
ples, sought him out and " withstood him to the face." It 
is thus that friendships are sealed and strengthened. The 
best of friends are parted by backbiting. The word 
itself is significant. The pestilent thing is out of sight. 
You hear it buzz, you feel the smart, but you cannot 
reach it. 

III. Put on charity as a garment " Charity suffer- 
eth long and is kind ; charity envieth not, doth not be- 
have itself unseemly, is not easily provoked, thinketh no 
evil." 

A Russian fable tells of a wise swine named Kavron 
that found its way into the court-yard of the palace, where 
it roved at will between the kitchen and the stable. On 
its return the master said, " Well, Kavron, what have you 
seen ? I have heard that kings' palaces are filled with 
wealth and beauty ; that there are fair pictures and splendid 
tapestries, and pearls and diamonds everywhere." " 'Tis 
all false," said Kavron. " I saw no splendor; nothing but 
dirt and offal." If we proceed in the same manner we 



Il6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

shall also reach a like result. There is some good in 
every man. It is the part of charity to look on the bright 
side of character. We may go into the back yard of a 
man's character and find all manner of noisome things ; 
or we may go into his front garden and bear away with us 
the fragrance of the virtues there. 

Of the many things that Lincoln said wisely and well 
there is none that will live longer than this : " With malice 
toward none ; with charity for all ; and with firmness for 
the right as God gives us to see the right." 

IV. Take care. It is a delicate matter to pluck a 
mote or a cinder out of an inflamed eye. You would not 
go about it with a marline-spike. Yet I have known peo- 
ple to treat their neighbor's faults that way. They are 
rather proud of calling themselves blunt. They " call a 
spade a spade." From the ministries of all such may the 
Lord deliver us ! Frankness is a glorious virtue, but 
bluntness is a vice. 

It is the business of every one who would discharge 
this duty to study tact, which is " the art of putting things." 
It is easy to call a man hard names. Anybody could do 
that ; but it takes an expert to help a brother by finding 
fault with him. Our Lord was a master of tact. He was 
resting at the well at Sychar when a woman came thither 
to draw. She was a woman of the town, whom most of 
us would have reproved forthwith in severest terms, but 
Jesus intends to beguile her soul to truth and goodness. 
Mark how skillfully he does it. 

He saith unto her, " Give me to drink." 

Then saith the woman, " How is it that thou, being a 
Jew, askest drink of me, a woman that is a Samaritan ? 
for the Jews have no dealings with us." 

He answered, " If thou knewest the gift of God, and 



THE DUTY OF FAULT-FINDING. 117 

who it is that saith, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have 
asked of him, and he would have given thee living wa- 
ter." 

She saith unto him, " Sir, thou hast nothing to draw 
with, and the well is deep : whence hast thou that living 
water?" 

Jesus answered, "Whosoever drinketh of this water 
shall thirst again ; but whosoever drinketh of the water 
that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but it shall be 
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting 
life." 

The woman saith, " Sir, give me this water." 

Jesus saith, " Go, call thy husband." This was the 
driving of his sharp sword, and it cut between the very 
joints and marrow. He touched in these words the 
secret place of her sinful life. 

The woman answered, " I have no husband." 

Jesus said, " Thou hast well said, I have no husband, 
for thou hast had five husbands and now thou art living 
out of wedlock." 

The woman — desiring naturally to change the theme 
of conversation at this point — said, " I perceive thou art a 
prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; ye 
say that Jerusalem is the place to worship." 

Jesus saith unto her, " Woman, believe me, the hour 
cometh when neither here nor yonder shall ye worship 
God : for God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must 
worship him in spirit and in truth." 

The woman saith (as if bewildered by this truth), " Sir, 
Messias cometh, and he will tell us all." 

Jesus saith unto her, " I that speak unto thee am he." 

This was the very perfection of tact. He effectively 
uncovered the shame of this woman, and yet in such a 



Il8 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

manner as not to repel, but to attract her. A little later 
she was going up and down among her friends in Sa- 
maria, saying, " Come, see a man which told me all 
things that ever I did : is not this the Christ?" 

V. Change places* Indeed, you will have to. For 
" with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto 
you again." 

It is not meant that God will angrily apply the lex tal- 
ionis to such as are severe in judgment, requiring of them 
" an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." But in the na- 
ture of the case requital is sure to come. As a man sow- 
eth, whether in judgment or otherwise, so also shall he 
reap. Adoni-bezek was a barbaric prince whose custom 
was to torture and mutilate his captives. The time came, 
however, when he himself was a prisoner of war, and this 
was his lamentation : " Three score and ten kings, having 
their thumbs and great toes cut off, did gather meat under 
my table; as I have done so God hath requited me." 

The law of recompense does not wait for a divine en- 
forcement : it executes itself. Haman is ever on the way 
towards the gallows which he built for Mordecai. The 
royal fiend who gave the signal for the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew's must lie awake at night seeing red visions 
of carnage. The golden rule can be put into inexorable 
form, " As ye do unto others, so shall ye be done by." 

We are accustomed to pray, " Forgive us our debts 
as we forgive our debtors." There is a world of philoso- 
phy in that little word " as." The prayer falls glibly from 
our lips, but let us take heed how we offer it. For with 
what judgment we judge we shall be judged. It were 
better to omit that petition if we are of an unforgiving or 
censorious spirit. If we would pray aright we must put 
away all grudges, all malice and envying : then can we 



THE DUTY OF FAULT-FINDING. II9 

say, " Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who 
trespass against us." 

VI. Let the mind which was in Christ yesus be also 
in us. He was indeed a great fault-finder. But how 
graciously and skillfully he did it. When need required, 
he could hurl the very lightnings of denunciation : " Woe 
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! how shall ye 
escape the damnation of hell ?" At other times he could 
reprove as tenderly as ever a mother chid her erring 
babe: " Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. ,, 
Love was the secret of his art. Like a good surgeon, he 
cut to save. On one occasion he girt himself with a towel 
and, basin in hand, went round among his disciples and 
washed their feet. " I have given you an example," he 
said, "that ye should do as I have done unto you." 

We are bound to protect each other as far as possible 
from sin. Kindly reproof is oftentimes as gracious as the 
Oriental courtesy of washing the feet. Our faults are like 
the dust that gathers upon the feet in walking along the 
way. But there never was such a reproof on the earth as the 
cross itself. It stood yonder like a finger of admonition 
to put the world to an open shame. All the faults of all 
defiled hearts are laid open before it. The love of the 
Master, who died yonder, was love that should kill the 
foul spirit within us. He died because we were sinners ; 
and yet, while showing forth that stupendous reproof of 
sin, he stretched forth his pierced hands and for ever cov- 
ered it. Go, and do thou likewise. 



120 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE BRANDED CONSCIENCE. 



" Having their conscience seared with a hot iron." i Tim. 4:2. 

The apostle is speaking of certain heretics and schis- 
matics who had made their appearance among the 
members of the Ephesian church. He had previously 
admonished them. On his way to Jerusalem, when the 
Ephesian elders came down to the seashore to bid him 
farewell, he said, " Take heed to yourselves and the flock 
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers ; 
for I know this, that after my departing grievous wolves 
shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock." That 
was five years ago. He now renews the warning : " The 
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits, speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience 
seared with a hot iron." 

The reference may be to the ancient custom of brand- 
ing slaves with their master's name. An habitual sin 
leaves its mark upon its victim ; as it is written, " He that 
doeth sin is the servant of it." Or possibly the reference 
is to the custom of branding a malefactor with his crime; 
it is the story of " The Scarlet Letter." A bad habit puts 
us sooner or later under an ineradicable stigma. Or per- 
haps the reference is to the surgical operation known as 
cautery. The original word is kaiiterizo^ meaning "to 
sear." The dulling of the moral sense under the slow 
process of continuance in any sinful practice is not unlike 
the searing of raw or tender flesh. 

But what is conscience ? It is usually defined as the 



THE BRANDED CONSCIENCE. 121 

faculty by which we discern between right and wrong. 
At this point the etymology will help us. The word is 
from con-scire, meaning " to know with." With whom ? 
God. It is at this point that we approach nearest to him 
who created us. By conscience we are enabled to know 
certain things in agreement with God. In the last reduc- 
tion, with respect to moral determinations, we are at one 
with him. Up yonder he is all the while passing judg- 
ment: Mene, Mene, Tekel. "Thou art weighed in the 
balance." In our inmost hearts we acknowledge that the 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 
It is conscience that responds Yea and Amen to his moral 
decisions. As to " the difference between the worse and 
better reason," to use the phrase of Plato, we know with 
God. 

The science of casuistry is broad and bewildering. 
Many of the noblest philosophers have gone astray in it. 
Sir William Hamilton, Emanuel Kant, Herbert Spen- 
cer, and John Stuart Mill have in this province been " in 
wandering mazes lost." Yet there are some things which 
may be definitely asserted. 

I. Conscience is miiversal. " The spirit of man is the 
candle of the Lord." God has not left himself without a 
witness. A man may be born blind, armless, or mal- 
formed in other ways ; may be born destitute of imagina- 
tion or love of the beautiful ; but never was one born 
without the moral sense. It is indeed the vital organ of 
the soul. The heathen are represented as having this 
faculty, and they are therefore without excuse ; because 
" they show the law written in their hearts, their con- 
science bearing witness." 

Up yonder in the starry heavens a beacon was kindled 
for the guidance of wanderers before the first of beacons 



122 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

flamed upon the earthly heights, and it will shine when 
the glow of the last Pharos has gone out. Old Palinurus 
steered his bark by it. The Argonauts in their search for 
the Golden Fleece followed it as a beckoning finger of 
light. Abraham kept his gaze upon it, journeying along 
the Euphrates toward the country that he knew not. 
Columbus watched it from the bow of the Pinta. The 
Bedouins of the desert direct their course by it. The 
fugitive slaves followed it through forests and bayous to 
their bleak heaven beyond the northern lakes. And con- 
science, like the Pole Star, is guide for all. All other 
lights are quenched, but the candle of the Lord burns on. 
II. The universal conscience is disordered. In all the 
world there is no inward sense which can serve as an in- 
fallible guide. What has wrought this harm ? Sin. An 
inbound steamer was recently two hundred miles from 
Nantucket shoals, by compass and sextant, when the look- 
out cried "Land ho!" and the dangerous shoals were just 
in sight. It had chanced that the ship's carpenter care- 
lessly drove a nail too near the magnetic needle. A 
slight deflection may cause a vast divergence at the open 
end of the angle. So sensitive is the conscience to sin. 
Here lies the danger of indulgence in any pernicious 
habit. When Nero ascended the throne he was so tender- 
hearted that on being required to sign the death-warrant 
of a slave he wept, and wished he had never learned to 
write. But the tiger whetted his taste on blood and soon 
learned to revel in it. When the cry "Hoc habet!" was 
heard in the amphitheatre he always gave the signal of 
death. What is your darling sin, my friend ? The time 
was when you scrupled to indulge in it ; but practice 
made it easier and your compunctions vanished in the 
course of time. The sin is just as sinful as ever, but you 



THE BRANDED CONSCIENCE. 1 23 

have violated your moral sense until it has been given 
over to believe a lie. 

In this callousness there is, however, no excuse for sin. 
The man who is brought red-handed before the court on 
the charge of murder pleads, " I was drunk, your Honor." 
But no court will extenuate his crime on that account. 
The responsibility is merely pushed back to the touching 
of the maddening cup. So the crime from which all 
crimes proceed is the deadening of conscience by persis- 
tence in evil. A man must answer for the perversion of 
his moral sense. 

III. But conscience is indestructible. It may be 
chained and silenced, but not killed. Like a silenced 
angel it dwells in the Round Tower of the soul and bides 
its time. 

When Nero had reached the consummation of all his 
wickedness in the murder of Agrippina he sent her body 
for burial beyond the seas; yet in the watches of the 
night he heard his mother's groans from that far-distant 
grave. 

In like manner the conscience of King Richard awoke 
at Bosworth Field. The ghosts of his victims paraded 
before his tent : Grey and Vaughan and Rivers and 
Buckingham all saying, 

" Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow !" 

Then came the ghost of Hastings, saying, 

" Dream on thy cousins smothered in the Tower." 
Then the spectre of his murdered wife, 

" Richard, thy wife that never slept a quiet hour with thee 
Now fills thy sleep with perturbations. ,, 

Then the king awoke, confessing the immortal power of 

conscience : 



124 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

" My conscience has a thousand several tongues 
And every tongue brings in a several tale, 
And every tale condemns me for a villain !" 

When Lord Byron had worn out his glorious youth 
in frivolity and dissipation, finding himself old when most 
men are in the prime of manhood, he lamented thus : 

"The mind that broods o'er guilty woes 
Is like the scorpion girt by fire ; 
In circle narrowing as it glows 
The flames around their captive close. 
So writhes the mind remorse hath riven : 
Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven ; 
Darkness above, despair beneath, 
Around it fire, within it death !" 

Here is the basis of eternal retribution. Sin is the 
seed of its own penalty. Memory will awake. The 
mind, as Milton says, " is its own place, and in itself can 
make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. " 

IV. The conscie?ice can be restored to its original rec- 
titude. How ? If one's watch is out of order he does 
not himself undertake to tinker it, but puts it in the 
watchmaker's hands. So let us deal with the disordered 
conscience. God made it and he alone can repair it. 
In prayer let us place the matter before him. 

As with the watch so with the conscience : two things 
are necessary — a cleansing and a regulating. The cleans- 
ing is wrought at the fountain that has been opened for 
uncleanness ; as it is written, " The blood of Jesus Christ 
shall purge your conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God." 

The adjusting is wrought through the Scriptures. All 
chronometers are regulated by the sun ; all consciences 
must be adjusted to the mind of God. But where shall 



THE BRANDED CONSCIENCE. 1 25 

that be found? In the Scriptures. The Scriptures are 
distinctively a setting forth of the divine mind. In them 
we have an infallible rule of faith and practice. The con- 
science goes wrong, but the Scriptures never. To the law 
and to the testimony therefore. You would be a consci- 
entious man ; but if conscience is a false guide there is 
nothing worse than to be a conscientious man. When, 
however, the moral sense is purged and brought into har- 
mony with God's inerrant word, then there is nothing bet- 
ter on earth or in heaven than to follow its lead. 

"When the conscience," says Dr. McCosh, "has lost 
its delicate sensibility and power of direction there seems 
to be only one method of restoration, namely, by pla- 
cing it alongside of a pure standard of right and wrong ; 
as the magnetized iron which has lost its virtue is re- 
stored by being bound up for a time with a correct ^mag- 
net" 

Hence the vital necessity of the Scriptures ; and hence, 
moreover, the vital necessity of believing in their iner- 
rancy. In them we have a " correct magnet," by which 
the trembling conscience may be adjusted to the divine 
will. To trust to conscience with no superhuman help is 
to lean upon a broken reed. The most flagrant crimes 
of history have been committed in the name of conscience. 
In the light of a thousand autos daf'e we may read Paul's 
disclaimer: " I verily thought that I ought to do it" But 
conscientiousness is no excuse for sin, nor can sincerity 
extenuate a violation of the moral law. A man is bound 
to be right as well as sincere. To this end there must be 
some ultimate and exact standard of right. This is the 
claim made for the Scriptures ; that they are " an infalli- 
ble rule." And herein is the rationale of our Lord's 
injunction: " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think 



126 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ye have eternal life, and these are they which testify of 
me. 

In the pictures of St. Gudule she is always represented 
as shielding a lantern with her hand. The story runs 
that, being required to pass through a dense forest on her 
way to the oratory, an evil spirit met her and blew out 
her light. A spark still lingered in the wick. She uttered 
a swift prayer, " Lord, help !" when straightway a warm 
breath from above rekindled it. Once more the evil spirit 
blew it out; another swift prayer, and again the warm 
breath rekindled it. And so until at last she reached the 
oratory. It is the parable of an earnest life. We journey 
toward heaven through a dark night. Pray without ceas- 
ing, oh, erring brother ! Depend not on the lantern in thy 
hand, save as its clear light is assured by constant com- 
munion with God. 

So at last we come to heaven's gate. And what is 
heaven ? The secret of the great glory lies in our being 
in perfect harmony with God. A good conscience has 
the happiness of heaven in it. Con-scire / to have our 
minds in harmony with God's mind, our wills blending 
with the divine will — this is to enter into life. 

The end of all is " peace of conscience." No more 
sin ; no more struggling ; no more bewilderment at the 
cross-roads of duty. All night Jacob wrestled at Jabbok. 
On the morrow he must meet his brother whom years be- 
fore he had wronged, and he was sore afraid. But before 
he meets Esau there is Another with whom he must 
reckon. So he wrestles with his unseen foe, until, as the 
day breaks, he falls helpless upon his withered thigh. 
Then realizing that his antagonist is the Infinite One he 
surrenders, and receives his crown : " Thou art Israel, be- 
cause thou hast prevailed with God." There is a war in 



THE BRANDED CONSCIENCE. 1 27 

our members : the evil that we would not, that we do ; 
and the good we would, that we do not. We are ever 
divided betwixt two. The struggle goes until we know 
our weakness. There is no triumphing with God until 
we fall helpless before him. Then, when the quarrel 
ceases in utter defeat, come the glorious victory and 
peace; peace "eternal, sacred, sure;" peace with self for 
ever and ever ; peace with our fellows ; peace with 
God. 



128 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE HOLY GHOST 



" He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye be- 
lieved ? And they said unto him, We have not so much as 
heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." Acts 19:2. 

The apostle in his journeying came to Ephesus, and 
found there a company of twelve men who were trying in 
a rude way to live a holy life. They had learned from 
John the Baptist, whose disciples they were, the need of 
repentance, and they went with their heads hanging down 
like bulrushes. There was no gladness in their faith. 
Paul perceived that all was not right with them ; some- 
thing was wanting. " Have ye," he asked, " received the 
Holy Ghost since ye believed?" They confessed that 
they had not learned of the great blessing which had come 
upon God's people at Pentecost. Then Paul, having in- 
structed them more fully as to the Lord Jesus, laid his 
hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. 
Then signs and wonders. They spake with tongues and 
prophesied; they entered upon a glorious life of gladness 
and usefulness. The word of the Lord grew mightily and 
prevailed among them. 

We have our Bibles and litanies ; we have our sanc- 
tuaries and family altars ; we go through our prescribed 
forms of devotion; but, perhaps, there is something want- 
ing. Where is the holy exhilaration that should charac- 
terize those who believe in the glorious gospel ? Are we 
moved by a fervid passion for souls and a consuming love 
for the kingdom of God ? Or is our devotion " faultily 
faultless, icily regular, splendidly null " ? Are there 



THE HOLY GHOST. 129 

traces of tears upon our cheeks ? Is the smell of the 
prison mould upon our white robes ? If so, where is 
the trouble, or what is wanting ? Have we received the 
Holy Ghost since we believed ? 

I. Who is the Holy Ghost? The third Person of the 
Godhead — a Person, not a mere energy or influence. 
Let us have no neuter pronouns here. We may say " it " 
of the influence of the Holy Ghost, but not of the Holy 
Ghost himself. He is distinctly a Person, as really as the 
Father or the Son. Were you to refer to me as " it " I 
should have just ground for offence. I am not a thing. 
Surely, then, it is not reverent to speak of the third Per- 
son of the Godhead in that way. 

II. What is the relation of the Holy Ghost to the other 
persons of the Trinity ? 

In theological terms, the Son is "sent" by the Father 
and the Holy Ghost " proceedeth " from the Father and 
the Son. All human history may be divided into three 
dispensations. The first is the dispensation of the Father, 
who ruled this world during the old economy. This dis- 
pensation closed in that long night of darkness which pre- 
ceded the coming of Christ. The second dispensation was 
that of the Son, which continued for about thirty years, 
while he lived and labored and preached among men. It 
closed in the darkness that enveloped the cross when 
Jesus cried, " It is finished !" The third dispensation, 
under which we are now living, is that of the Spirit. It 
began when Jesus, returning from the grave, breathed on 
his disciples and said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." 
The work of the Spirit will continue until the restitution 
of all things in the consummation of the divine kingdom 
on earth. 

III. What are the offices of the Holy Ghost? As we 

The Religion of the Future, Q 



130 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

proceed from this point we shall discover that the Holy 
Ghost is related to us in various ways ; so closely that our 
spiritual life depends upon our knowing and honoring 
and serving him. 

i. He is the Reprover, Our Lord said, "And when 
the Holy Ghost is come he will reprove the world of sin, 
of righteousness, and of judgment : of sin, because they 
believe not on him ; of righteousness, because I go unto 
my Father; and of judgment, because the prince of this 
world is judged." The Spirit wields a two-edged sword, 
which is quick and powerful to the dividing asunder of 
the very joints and marrow and of the soul and spirit of 
man. He speaks through the conscience ; our scruples 
and compunctions are from him. He rebukes and con- 
vinces and convicts; so that when his perfect work is 
done the man approaches God in humble contrition, 
beating upon his breast and crying, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner." 

2. He is the Reminder. The Lord said, " He shall 
put you in remembrance of whatsoever I have said unto 
you." And again, " He shall take of mine and show it 
unto you." It is one of the special functions of the Holy 
Ghost to keep in remembrance the redemptive work of 
Jesus. Great men and their deeds are apt to be forgot- 
ten. As Hamlet said, " Die two months ago, and not 
forgotten yet? Then there's hope that a man's memory 
may outlive him half a year." But the name and mighty 
work of Jesus can never be forgotten, because the Holy 
Ghost perpetuates it. It is under the authority and 
appointment of the Spirit that the army of ministers and 
evangelists goes forth to preach Christ, and him crucified. 
It is through him that the old, old story is kept fresh and 
vivid before the minds of men. It is through him that the 



THE HOLY GHOST. 131 

prophecy of the Saviour himself shall be fulfilled : " I, if I 
be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 

3. He is the Regenerator, The Lord said, " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and 
of the Spirit he shall not see the kingdom of God." The 
day of miracles has passed away, but one great miracle 
is ever being enacted in the restoration of fallen humanity. 
We cannot explain it, but we perceive the fact occurring 
again and again about us. Men are mysteriously brought 
out of darkness into light. Their characters are revolu- 
tionized ; so that, with them, old things have passed away 
and all things have become new. This is the work of the 
Spirit. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it com- 
eth, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit of God." 

4. He is the Teacher. The Lord said, " He shall 
guide you into all truth.' ' The summary of spiritual 
truth is the Scriptures. " Search the Scriptures," said 
Jesus, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and these 
are they which testify of me." The Romanists say it is 
dangerous to entrust the Bible to the laity, because, being 
misunderstood, it is likely to be perverted ; and the priest 
is, therefore, imposed upon men as the mediator of truth. 
The premise is correct ; the conclusion is false. No man 
indeed can, unaided, read the Scriptures and apprehend 
them. But the only mediator of truth is the Holy Ghost ; 
as it is written, " The natural man receiveth not the things 
of God, for they are foolishness to him ; because spiritual 
things are spiritually discerned." The Holy Ghost, as 
Author of the Scriptures, is alone able to explain them. 
The Earl of Chatham, when in the Highlands, attended a 
village church and listened to a profound sermon on the 



132 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Decrees. As he passed out he said to an old woman, 
" Did you understand?" "Aye, sir," she answered; and 
then seeing the bewildered look upon his face added, " but 
I perceive that you are in the dark. Sir, your eyes must 
be anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit or you will 
never be able to comprehend the deep things of God." 

5. He is Master of the Seals, Like the High Chancel- 
lor of an Oriental government, he wears the signet ring 
without the impress of which no conveyance is valid. 
Thus it is written, " Ye are sealed with the Holy Spirit of 
promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the 
redemption of the promised possession." We speak of 
"assurance"; we greatly desire to read our title clear to 
mansions in the skies : if we have assurance it is through 
the communication of the Holy Ghost ; as it is written, 
" The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the 
children of God." 

6. He is the Comforter. The word thus rendered is in 
the original Paraclete, from para-kalein; t. e.> "to call 
to one's side." The Paraclete is one who draws near at 
our cry of distress. In sorrow he brings consolation ; 
in weakness he brings strength ; in adversity he comes to 
assure us of the far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory. If we yield to temptation it is because we prefer 
to stand alone resisting it. We do not call the great 
Helper to our side. Out in the wilderness of Beersheba 
the exiled Hagar was famishing with her child. The 
water was spent in the bottle, and casting the child under 
an acacia bush she went away, as it were a bowshot, and 
sat her down, for she said, " Let me not see the death of 
the child." But God heard the wailing of the little one, 
and he called to Hagar out of heaven, saying, " What 
aileth thee, Hagar ? Fear not ; God hath heard the voice 



THE HOLY GHOST. 1 33 

of the lad." Then her ears were unstopped and she 
heard the babbling of water. Her eyes were opened and 
she saw a fountain near by. Thus it is that the Holy 
Ghost hears us in our distress and runs at our cry. He 
is with us in six troubles, and in seven he will not for- 
sake us. 

7. He is the Sanctifter. Our life should be marked by 
a perpetual growth. " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance ; against such there is no law. If we 
live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit." To walk in 
the Spirit is to walk in the path that shineth brighter and 
brighter unto the perfect day. The Holy Ghost is not so 
called because he is holier than the Father or than the 
Son, but because it is one of his special functions to ad- 
minister holiness— to lead God's people by continual 
growth in grace unto the likeness of Christ. 

We hear much of the Higher Life. The Higher Life is 
only to live in the Spirit, under the influence of the Spirit, 
following the behest of the Spirit. We look from the shore 
upon two ships out upon the open sea. They both alike 
seem to be standing still ; but could we look upon them 
from above we should see that one is at rest with sails 
flapping in a dead calm, while the other is tacking to and 
fro and making a slow but constant progress toward port. 
What makes the difference ? The wind in the sails. In 
like manner we may not be able to distinguish between 
the outward appearance of two Christians; the one of 
whom is making little or no progress in the Christian life, 
while the other is moving on by constant acquisitions of 
grace towards perfection. There is, however, a most 
important difference. What makes it? The breath of 
the Infinite One. The influence of the Spirit of God. 



134 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

8. He is our Helper ; as it is written, " The Spirit also 
helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh in- 
tercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." 
The groanings here referred to are indeed not those of 
the Spirit, but those of the poor suppliant who cannot 
articulate his prayer. Not long ago I called upon a be- 
reaved wife who had been left desolate with her three 
children. Her burden of sorrow seemed heavier than 
she could bear. In answer to my question as to whether 
she had prayed over it, she said, " No. I believe in the 
good Lord, but I cannot pray ; my heart is as heavy as 
lead ; my lips are parched and dry." It is to such sup- 
pliants that the gracious Spirit comes with timely help. 
When our groanings cannot be uttered He maketh in- 
tercession for us. 

9. He is our Guide. The best definition of a Chris- 
tian that ever was given is that of the Apostle Paul : "As 
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
of God." Our life is a journey. There are ups and 
downs and cross-roads that bewilder us. We are like the 
children of Israel who went out of the Egyptian cities, 
a great mob of fugitive slaves, into an unknown wilder- 
ness, going to a land that they knew not. But yonder in 
the heavens was the divine token. It went before them, 
a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, as they 
struggled on, compassed about by enemies and hindered 
by untold difficulties, until it led them into the land that 
flowed with milk and honey. The Holy Spirit leads us 
as veritably as God led Israel in the olden time. There 
is no reason why we should ever go wrong. Sin is utterly 
unreasonable. We have only to follow the divine guid- 
ance and heaven is straight before us. 



THE HOLY GHOST. 1 35 

10. In fine^ the Holy Ghost is the Executive of the 
Church. We return to our starting-point. This is the 
dispensation of the Spirit. He is carrying out through 
the church the glorious purpose of Jesus in his redemp- 
tive death. The success of the church depends upon the 
pervasive influence and invigoration of the Holy Ghost. 
In the vision of Zechariah he saw a golden candlestick 
with seven lamps ; in the midst was a bowl of oil com- 
municating with the lamps through seven pipes. The 
prophet said, " What are these ?" The angel answered, 
" Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." In vain is all the splendid machinery 
of the visible church if the Spirit does not use it. The 
most eloquent ministry is but an array of meaningless 
ciphers until the Spirit of God shall place himself like an 
omnipotent unit before it; then the ministry leads the 
church as an invincible army to the conquest of the world, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

Two concluding words .• a warning and a promise. 
It is the Master's warning: " All sins shall be forgiven, 
but the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven 
you." The rejection of the overtures of the Holy Spirit 
is, in the nature of the case, the unpardonable sin ; for it 
is the casting away of the only clew to the labyrinth ; it 
is the closing of the only door of heaven ; it is the quench- 
ing of the only beacon that lights us to the kingdom of 
God. 

The promise is a glorious one : " If earthly parents 
know how to give good gifts unto their children, how 
much more shall your Father in heaven give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him !" This is the unspeakable 
gift, and it may be had for the mere taking. The most 
famous of bridal gifts was that to Placidia from her de- 



I36 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

voted prince. As she came from the altar she walked 
between a double line of fifty princes each holding a 
basin : one of pearls", another of rubies, another of dia- 
monds ; and as she passed each was presented, with the 
words, " That you may never want." A gift unspeakably 
more glorious is presented to the soul at its espousal with 
Christ. Here is the casket of all jewels: "How much 
more shall your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to 
them that ask him !" Life, happiness, transcendent hope 
and glory are here. Oh, for the unspeakable gift ! 
Come, Holy Spirit, come ! 



WALKING WITH GOD. 1 37 



WALKING WITH GOD. 



''And Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for God took 
him." Gen. 5:24. 

In this fifth chapter of Genesis we have a procession 
of nobodies. Adam and Seth and Cainan and Mahala- 
leel and Jared — these are mere names. There are those 
who count themselves fortunate in being able to trace 
their lineage back through some generations to a baron 
or a blacksmith, as the case may be, but here is some- 
thing better. 

"A prince can mak a belted knight, 

A marquis, duke, and a' that ; 
An honest man's aboon his might — 

Guid faith, he maunna fa' that ! 
For a' that, and a' that, 

Their dignities, and a' that, 
The pith o' sense and pride o' worth 

Are higher ranks than a' that." 

The proudest genealogy which any man can boast is that 
which makes us part and parcel of the human family ; as 
it is written, " He was the son of Seth, who was the son 
of Adam, who was the son of God." 

As we pass along this monotonous list of our common- 
place and insignificant forebears, we suddenly come upon 
one whose life, embraced in a brief sentence, is sugges- 
tive of interminable chapters of duty gloriously done — 
"And Enoch walked with God." 



138 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

The walk is significant of the manner of life. It is our 
walk that carries us about to and fro, from door to door, 
and makes us part of the great busy world. So life is 
aptly represented as walk and conversation, the latter 
word being from convertere, " to turn about." You may 
stand at the corner of Broadway and pass judgment with 
some degree of certainty upon the character of the pass- 
ing multitude by the manner of their walk. Here is one 
whose step is firm and rapid — manifestly a man of pur- 
pose ; here is another who threads his way in and out — a 
schemer ; here is one who struts past, erect and heedless 
of others — a self-opinionated man ; one staggers by — the 
manhood is gone out of him ; one shuffles by, " inter- 
feres," as horsemen would say — a shiftless good-for- 
naught; another passes with a mincing gait — a small 
man; one saunters by with a jaunty air — a "thing of 
beauty" but of little or no practical account; here goes a 
plodder, who sets his foot down heel and toe — a com- 
monplace man, but adept, as they say, in "the art of ulti- 
mate arrival." Thus does the gait betray the man. 

Not without reason, therefore, are we exhorted in Holy 
Writ to walk aright ; to walk before God in the land of 
the living; to walk circumspectly, not as fools but as 
wise ; to walk in the truth ; to walk in our houses with a 
perfect heart ; to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleas- 
ing ; to walk after the Spirit ; to walk in newness of life ; 
to run in the way of the Lord's commandments ; to walk 
in the light of his countenance ; to walk by faith. " I be- 
seech you," says Paul to the Ephesians, " that ye walk 
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all 
lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love ; 
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace." 



WALKING WITH GOD. 1 39 

" Oh for a closer walk with God, 
A calm and heavenly frame, 
A light to shine upon the road 
That leads me to the Lamb !" 

The sum total of a holy life is embraced in this ex- 
pression, " to walk with God." It implies the closest and 
most intimate relation with him. He is, so to speak, our 
companion on the long journey ; our comrade in struggle ; 
the sharer of our plans and purposes ; our friend and 
confidant. 

But prior to any such association with the Infinite 
One it is obvious that there must be a reconciliation with 
him, for by nature we are not on good terms with God. 
In the beginning Adam walked with God " in the garden 
in the cool of the day." There was nothing between 
them. Then came sin and opened the mighty chasm of 
separation ; and since then the condition of the race is 
set forth in those pregnant words, " The carnal mind is 
enmity against God." It is obvious, therefore, that be- 
fore the pleasant walk of confidence can be resumed there 
must be reconciliation. For 

" In friends 
That do converse and waste the time together, 
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 
There must needs be a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit." 

It has pleased God to make an overture of peace in the 
gospel of Christ. The cross is a flag of truce. In accept- 
ing Christ we make our peace with God ; as it is written, 
" You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your 
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the 
body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and 
unblameable and unreproveable in his sight." When we 



140 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

have attended to this prerequisite, and not before, we are 
ready to walk with God. 

Then three things are necessary, as one commenta- 
tor says, that we may walk consistently with Him ; to 
wit, like-mindedness, spiritual-mindedness, and heavenly- 
mindedness. 

I. Like-mindedness, " Can two walk together/' asked 
Amos the herdman, " except they be agreed ?" It was in 
the time of Israel's degeneracy; the altars flamed with 
sacrifices, the temple was thronged with worshippers, but 
all was superficial. The people smote with the fist of 
wickedness and were at variance with God. 

If we are to walk in friendliness with Him there are 
some things concerning which there must be no difference 
of view. One of these is sin. What does God think 
about sin ? It is filth, leprosy, palsy, bondage, virus, mor- 
tification, death. He says, " Thou shalt not bring an 
abomination into thy house ; but thou shalt utterly destroy 
it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed 
thing. " This is how God regards it. What, now, do 
you think of it? Do you cherish the unclean thing? 
Have we " a darling sin " ? God is pleased to represent 
his relation to the redeemed soul as that of the bride- 
groom to the bride ; as he says, " Henceforth thou shalt 
call me no more Baali, but Ishi ;" that is, not, my master, 
but, my husband. But can the husband love the wife who 
holds an ill-gotten child in her arms ? So is a darling sin 
in the sight of God. If we are to walk in friendly con- 
verse with him we must put the abomination from us. 

And then another fact as to which there must be no 
difference of opinion is salvation. It has pleased God to 
devise a plan of salvation as revealed in the gospel, ol 
which he says, " There is none other name under heaven, 



WALKING WITH GOD. 141 

or given among men, whereby we must be saved." This 
plan of salvation centres in Christ. What does God think 
of Christ? He says, " This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." What think ye of Christ? Is he a 
root out of a dry ground ? Has he no form or comeliness 
that you should desire him ? Or, are you also well pleased 
in him ? 

II. Spiritual-mindedriess. The line is clearly drawn 
in the Scriptures between those who live unto the flesh 
and those who live unto the Spirit, as in the eighth of 
Romans, where the apostle says, " There is now no con- 
demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from 
the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do 
God did by the sending of his own Son to condemn sin 
in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be 
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the 
things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit the 
things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death ; 
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Here the 
two levels of life are clearly defined — the level of the flesh 
and the level of the Spirit. 

To the former belong all such as give themselves to 
sordid pursuits ; who are troubled as to what they shall 
eat and drink and wherewithal they shall be clothed ; who 
are chiefly troubled about a livelihood or self-indulgence. 
If the flesh were the whole man this would be sound phi- 
losophy ; let us then eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. 
Death ends all. 

On the other hand, those who live unto the Spirit, as 
being akin with God, who is a Spirit, make much of the 



142 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

higher nature. The abundance of their life consisteth not 
in the things which they possess. They lay the deepest 
emphasis on duty and character and responsibility. To 
them " ought " is a great word. The business of their 
life is religion in its etymological sense ; that is, the bind- 
ing back of the soul to its Creator : they seek first the 
kingdom of God. 

III. Heavenly -mindedness. We are pilgrims and so- 
journers here. We pass through life like Abraham, who 
built no house, but dwelt in tents, moving on in obedience 
to the Voice, ever looking for a better country, even a 
heavenly, and for a city that hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God. 

The man who realizes that he is merely sojourning 
here, and passing on to another country where he shall 
dwell for ever, will surely concern himself as to that future 
land. Sir Walter Raleigh, when he had determined to 
sail to Virginia, took the precaution of discovering what- 
ever might be known as to the topography of that far- 
distant land. He made inquiry of travellers who had 
been there ; he consulted the maps. Much more, if we 
are going to the celestial country to make eternal dwell- 
ing there, we should be concerned to learn whatever may 
be known about it. 

Still further, the man who expects to make his endless 
home in another land will certainly take pains to adjust 
himself to the modes and customs which prevail there. 
If Canaan is to be our home we should be mastering its 
language. If all its inhabitants wear white robes we 
should assure ourselves that a white robe will become us. 
If it be true that in that country " His servants do serve 
Him," we should here be practising an implicit, unques- 
tioning obedience. If over the gateway is written, " There 



WALKING WITH GOD. I43 

shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither 
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie," then 
we should be scrupulously keeping ourselves unspotted 
from the world. If they sing there " Worthy is the Lamb 
to receive honor, and glory, and power, and dominion for 
ever and ever," we should attune our voices here in ador- 
ing praise. 

"All hail the power of Jesus' name ! 

Let angels prostrate fall ; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 

And crown him Lord of all." 

In one of David's Psalms he likens the upward pro- 
gress oi a redeemed soul to the flight of a dove : " Though 
ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings 
of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow 
gold." The flat roofs of those days were used for the 
storage of all sorts of rubbish; shards and broken furni- 
ture were deposited there. The doves made their nests 
among this litter, and at daybreak they might be seen 
emerging and darting upward and careering through the 
air ; their wings caught the rays of the morning sun as 
they wheeled round and round. The glory shone against 
their breasts. Gold ! Silver ! So from the lower life of 
sordid cares and pursuits the soul mounts upward in 
communion with God. 

But Isaiah is bolder. He likens the spiritual life to the 
flight of an eagle : " They that wait upon the Lord shall 
be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved ; they shall 
mount up as on eagle's wings." The eyes of the eagle 
are towards the noon-day sun. See how on poised wings 
he rises higher and higher. An intervening cloud hides 
him from sight for a brief moment. Up yonder he ap- 
pears — a mere spot upon the blue — still mounting upward, 



144 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

to kindle his undazzled eyes at the full mid-day beam. 
So 

" Rise, my soul ! and stretch thy wings ; 
Thy better portion trace ; 
Rise from transitory things 

Toward heaven, thy native place ! 
Sun and moon and stars decay ; 

Time shall soon this earth remove : 
Rise, my soul ! and haste away 
To seats prepared above." 

The end of Enoch's life was worthy of its calm majes- 
tic flow : " And he was not ; for God took him." His life, 
as lives were counted then, was a short one. He died at 
the age of three hundred and sixty-five years. His son 
Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty and nine, but 
Enoch's life was the longer, for he filled it full of heavenly 
service. He walked along the celestial heights commun- 
ing with the Infinite : on towards the glorious sunset, until 
one day the crimson gates rolled back and he passed in. 
Death ? Oh, no ! Enoch did not die. God took him, and 
passing in he continued to walk with God. So let us 
live, good friends, that at the last our transition may be as 
calm and peaceful as Enoch's. A good life is the prepa- 
ration for a pleasant death. 

" So live, that, when thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan that moves 
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night 
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams," 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 145 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 



" He said unto them, Give ye them to eat." Mark 6:37. 

" The poor," said the Master, " ye have always with 
you." At this present juncture they are multitudinously 
with us.* Let us observe the army of the poor as it files 
past us. 

Here they come: professional beggars leading the 
way. Poverty is their business ; rags and tatters are 
their stock in trade. What shall we do for them ? Noth- 
ing. Absolutely nothing. For every penny to the pro- 
fessional beggar is a penny less to the deserving poor. 

Here they come: a multitude of tramps following 
after — the unstarched throng. Not long ago they jostled 
each other along the country roads ; knocked at the doors 
of the farmhouses ; made their nests in the hay-mows ; but 
now they have swarmed into the great metropolitan cen- 
tres. They are our Bedouins. They have no desire to 
work. Their philosophy is in this : " The world owes me 
a living." But the world owes no man a living; the debt 
is all the other way. My brain and sturdy arms and legs 
owe me a living. God help me to exact it. But what 
have we for the tramps ? Nothing. Not a farthing. For 
every farthing bestowed upon them is a farthing less for 
the hungry and deserving poor. The Scriptures give us 
our cue: "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat." 

* This sermon was preached in a time of general want and dis- 
tress. 

The Religion of the Put ma IQ 



146 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

These wandering good-for- naughts are the burden of 
every community. To feed them is to foster the curse. 
Even the bees do not feed their drones ; they sting them 
to death. 

Still here they come: thousands on thousands of 
wretched ones exhaling an odor of strong drink. It is 
a curious fact that in this season of great distress the nine 
thousand saloons of New York are doing a flourishing 
business. The employing agencies report that only two 
classes of employes are in undiminished demand : cooks 
and brewers. The drink habit does not pause for famine. 
As yet, thank God ! no case of death by starvation has 
been reported among us; but there are deaths from 
inebriety every day. In the year of the Irish famine, 
when we were sending shiploads of wheat and potatoes 
from this country to save the multitudes of the Emerald 
Isle from starvation, they consumed four millions of 
bushels of grain in malt liquors and drank ten hundred 
thousand gallons of whiskey ! Aye, men who have this 
habit fastened on them may be starving but they drink 
right on. What shall we do for them ? Nothing. Cer- 
tainly it would be no kindness to place money in their 
hands to pass across the bar. To contribute at this junc- 
ture for the gratification of this passion for drink is to 
diminish our gifts by so much to the deserving poor. 

Now half the army has passed by and still they come : 
the multitude of the unemployed. God pity them ! It 
is " hard lines," as the Scotch say, when an industrious 
man can find no work. We leave to others the discus- 
sion of the question why so many of our industrial estab- 
lishments and factories are closed. We have to do with a 
condition, not a theory. The fires are banked, the ham- 
mer is still upon the anvil, and workless men are going 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 147 

about our streets ; and the worst of it is that in a vast 
majority of cases they have saved nothing for the " rainy 
day." One is tempted to preach them a sermon on the 
nimble penny. It were a vain thing, however ; for, as 
Cato said in the presence of a hungry multitude, " You 
cannot speak to the stomach, because it hath no ears." 
It is enough that these men have been honest and indus- 
trious and are now in want. What shall we do for them ? 
Help them. By all means help, in the name of the Lord 
Christ. 

But to make the matter worse, still they come : wives 
and mothers, blue-lipped and hollow- cheeked, with little 
children, wan and sorrowful, clinging to their skirts. 
These are innocent of blame as the sparrows that chirp in 
our streets. What shall we do for them ? Help them in 
the name of humanity and at the word of the Master, 
who, seeing the multitude, had compassion upon them, 
and said to his disciples, " Give ye them to eat." 

I. To minister to the poor is part of the business of the 
Christian Church. There are sentimentalists who say 
Christianity is charity. That, however, is but a fragmen- 
tary statement. Christianity rests on two great pillars : 
(1) Truth. It opens up to us the great problem of the 
future life. It tells of God and of immortality. The 
Scriptures are a compendium of all spiritual truth. (2) 
Ethics. It offers us the decalogue and the golden rule, 
with Christ standing between them, and in these as the 
basis of character we have the sanctions and safeguards 
of personal and social life. On these two pillars rests the 
superstructure of practical Christianity. 

All practical Christianity may be embraced in a 
single word — salvation. By salvation we mean not mere 
deliverance from spiritual death, but the uplifting of the 



I48 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

whole man, body and soul, for time and for eternity. 
The purpose of Christianity is to bring man — the whole 
man — into the kingdom of God. This means the better- 
ment of his life here and forever. We do not help the 
matter by saying, sentimentally, that kindness is all. We 
are bound to say, however, that universal kindness is an 
essential part of Christianity. The best definition that 
has ever been given of religion is that of the Apostle 
James : " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the 
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world;" 
i. e., it consists on the one hand in the building up of 
character by absolution from sin and growth in holiness, 
and on the other hand in being good along the way. 

II. The church has been attending to its business in 
this regard with more or less faithfulness ever since the 
beginning of the Christian Era. A little history at this 
point will help us. At the time of the advent of Christ 
the known world was under the domination of Rome, and 
the sovereignty of Rome centered in the imperial city. 
The population of the city of Rome was estimated at a 
million and a half. A glimpse at the character of that 
population will enable us to form a conception of the uni- 
versal condition of things. Uhlhorn says that of the popu- 
lation of Rome " only about ten thousand belonged to the 
higher orders/' These, the patricians, lived in unspeak- 
able luxury ; they dwelt in palaces, clothed themselves in 
purple and fine linen, and put the whole world under 
contribution for the supply of their groaning tables. 

" On that hard pagan world disgust 
And sated loathing fell ; 
Deep weariness and sated lust 
Made human life a hell. 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 1 49 

In his cool hall with haggard eyes 

The Roman noble lay ; 
He drove abroad in furious guise 

Along the Appian way; 
He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, 

And crowned his hair with flowers : 
No easier, nor no quicker, passed 

The impracticable hours." 

Of the remainder not less than a million were slaves, 
whose condition was indescribably wretched. The rest 
of the population consisted of the plebs urbana ; these 
were Roman citizens, penniless, and too proud to work. 
They regarded work as the business of slaves. How 
then did they live ? As clients at the houses of the great. 
Games were provided for their entertainment. It is said 
that there were three hundred and eighty-five thousand 
seats in the amphitheatre. At the beginning of every 
month a ticket, called tessara, was given to each plebe- 
ian, entitling him to draw five bushels of wheat, and besides 
this an allowance of money ; in the time of Caesar these 
subsidies were given to not less than three hundred and 
twenty thousand persons. From this brief outline it is evi- 
dent that not more than one in one hundred of the popula- 
tion of Rome was self-supporting. All the rest were 
slaves or mendicants. This order of things has been 
justly characterized as " a world without love." 

Into that world came Jesus the Christ. He came to 
uplift the masses ; to bring about such a betterment of 
the temporal and spiritual condition of the multitudes as 
should ultimately bring them into the kingdom of God. 
He began the announcement of his mission in these 
words : " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." 
That gospel has for these eighteen hundred years been 



150 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

leavening the lump of human society. By it the condi- 
tion of the masses has been ameliorated with each suc- 
ceeding year. As we look back over the eighteen cen- 
turies which have passed it is plain to see that Jesus has 
done four notable things for the poor. 

(i) He has taught the equality of man. He was him- 
self a man of the people. His ministry was among the 
multitudes. In the organization of his church " not many 
mighty, not many noble were called. ,, The genius of his 
entire ministry was formulated by St. Paul in that famous 
manifesto : " God hath created of one blood all nations of 
men." And there is no difference : Jew and Greek, bar- 
barian and Scythian, bond and free, all are one in Jesus 
Christ ; because there is one Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism, one God and Father of all. 

(2) He has taught the dignity of labor. A divine wis- 
dom was manifest in the fact that Jesus, coming from 
heaven under a commission to exalt the multitudes, took 
part with them in the fellowship of toil. He was himself 
a carpenter. He knew what it was to grow weary in a 
workshop. And in his fellowship all honest workmen 
are dignified. Indolence alone is dishonorable. 

(3) He has brought about, by the operation of His 
gospel in successive centuries, the equitable distribution oj 
wealth. It cannot be said of any city in Christendom, as 
of ancient Rome, that in a population of a million and a 
half all money is in the hands of a meagre ten thousand. 
A system of work and wages was certain to change that 
order of things. It is not true, as agitators sometimes say, 
that the rich are growing richer and the poor are growing 
poorer. On the contrary, the condition of the poor is 
being bettered every day. This, however, cannot be said 
of nations that lie beyond the charmed circle of Christen- 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 1 5 I 

dom. There is said to be a millionaire in Hong Kong, 
by name Han Qua, whose wealth is estimated at sixteen 
hundred millions of dollars. 

(4) The teaching of Christ has brought about a general 
diffusion of education. His gospel is the gospel of light. 
He universalized the quest for truth when he placed the 
search-warrant in the hands of the humblest, saying, 
"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life/' Therein is the franchise of all our schools 
and universities. 

Thus the teaching of Christ has levelled up the race 
and brought the average citizen to the position of a self- 
respecting man. The gospel of Christ has created the 
"Third Estate/' and this is the sum total of charity. The 
best form of alms-giving is that which makes beggary im- 
possible by placing the beggar beyond the need of it. 

III. As to the business of the church in the present 
emergency. What are we to do for the multitude of those 
who are stretching out their hands? " Give ye them to 
eat" 

There is, however, a right way as well as a wrong way 
of administering alms. " Blessed is he that considereth 
the poor." The word " consider " suggests the need of 
prudence. 

(1) Let us not give sentimentally ; for true charity is 
based not on sentiment, but on sound common sense. 
The heart prompts an alms, but the head directs it. Much 
of our giving is from mere impulse. On yonder corner 
is a beautiful blind girl ; her face itself makes a touching 
appeal, and there is a fortune in it. Every passer-by is 
moved to give. On the next corner is an old woman 
with pain throbbing in every fibre of her frame ; under the 
bandage on her wrinkled face is an unsightly cancer. 



152 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

How few are her benefactors ! If a penny is bestowed 
upon her it is thrown like a bone to a dog. There is the 
charity of sentiment. If we give, let us give from princi- 
ple and where our charity will do the most good. 

(2) Let us not give ostentatiously. This was the fault 
of the Pharisees. In the court of the temple stood the 
corban, a brazen contribution-box with a trumpet-shaped 
mouth. As the Pharisees passed by they took pains to 
rattle their coins into it. The Lord observing it said, 
" Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
seen of them. When thou doest thine alms, do not sound 
a trumpet as the hypocrites do, that they may have glory 
of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what 
thy right hand doeth ; and thy Father which seeth in se- 
cret shall reward thee." It is certain that Jesus gave 
much out of his humble possessions for the relief of the 
poor ; but observe that it is not recorded that he ever gave 
a penny. Newspaper charity has its reward; but those 
who give most wisely do not advertise it. 

(3) Let us not give indiscriminately. When the men- 
dicant stretches out his hand the easy way is to bestow an 
alms to be rid of him ; but in this manner the gift is wasted 
in most cases, and we have the less to bestow on the really 
necessitous. To give to every solicitous beggar is to 
thwart the ends of true benevolence. Nor is there need 
of so doing. II the case be one of pressing hunger, and 
such as needs immediate attention, let us personally attend 
to it ; otherwise let us make use of the organized chari- 
ties which stand ready to serve us. There are more than 
twelve hundred such organizations in the city of New 
York. The " Associated Charities " has agents through 
whom it will investigate every case reported. Thus we 



THE ARMY OF THE POOR. 1 53 

are enabled to give advisedly, and at this moment every 
penny should be made to tell. 

Finally : let us give in the spirit of Christ. He fed the 
five thousand, and at the same time declared unto them 
the unsearchable riches of the kingdom. He was not deaf 
to the appeal for bread to supply the body's need, but was 
ever mindful that, after all, the matter of greatest impor- 
tance was the welfare of the immortal soul. In a little while 
the body will return to dust, but the soul lives for ever 
and ever. It is relatively of slight importance whether the 
body, that will be presently carried out to the graveyard, 
is sleek and comely and wrapped in a satin winding-sheet, 
or, worn and shrunken, in a cotton shroud ; the soul that 
dwelt therein has gone beyond the reach of the small 
questions of food and raiment. Was it rich toward God ? 

Hear, then, the word of the Master — who cared for 
body and soul alike ; he had compassion on the multitude, 
crying for perishable bread but needing more the bread 
of which if a man eat he shall never hunger ; who stands 
at the corner of the ways offering his precious wares to 
every passer by : " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to 
the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and 
eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and 
without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that 
ivhich is not bread? a?idyour labor for that which satis- 
fieth not ? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that 
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 
Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your soul 
shall live" 



154 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



NATHAN HALE. 



" Quit you like men." i Cor. 16:13. 

The Greeks were accustomed to place the images of 
the gods along their streets and thoroughfares in the be- 
lief that those who looked upon them would grow to 
resemble them. In like manner the Romans arranged 
the busts of distinguished senators and emperors along 
the atria of their homes to stimulate their sons to emu- 
late the virtues of the illustrious. The custom was a wise 
one. We all take our color, like the chameleon, from our 
conditions. We imitate the virtues or vices of those 
whom we contemplate, whether gods or men. The eye 
affects the heart. The statue of Nathan Hale, the patri- 
otic spy, which has recently been erected in City Hall 
Square, New York, is a preacher of robust manhood to 
all who pass by. It seems to say to the multitude, There 
is something better than wealth or pleasure ; the noblest 
thing in the world is to be true to principle. Quit you 
like men. 

But who was Nathan Hale ? He was born in Coven- 
try, Conn., in 1755. His parents early taught him the 
truths of the Christian religion, and he conceived the hope 
of being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With 
this end in view he entered Yale College at fourteen 
years of age, and was graduated in 1773. He was a 
stalwart youth, almost six feet high and well propor- 
tioned, with blue eyes, brown hair, a broad chest, and 



NATHAN HALE. 155 

muscular frame. His voice was low and musical. While 
faithful in his studies he was enthusiastic in athletic sports, 
a leading champion of the Yale of those days. At his 
graduation he carried away the Commencement prize, 
and, better still, he bore with him the sincere regard of all 
who knew him. His college pastor said, " He was the 
manliest youth I have ever met." Byway of preparation 
for his future ministerial work he engaged to teach the 
village school at New London. One morning the post- 
boy brought to the village the news of the firing upon 
the minute-men of Lexington. It was the opening gun 
of the Revolutionary War. The blood of the young 
schoolmaster was up. At a town meeting held that day 
he said, " Let us march immediately, and not lay down 
our arms until we have secured the independence of 
these colonies.'' The rest of the story is brief, and may 
be told in five chapters. 

I. Enlistment. He was one of the first to enroll him- 
self in the Colonial Army. He donned the uniform most 
cheerfully. Whether it was gray or blue we scarcely 
know. It was but a poor uniform, at best, that our brave 
fathers wore. 

" In their ragged regimentals 
Stood the old Continentals." 

The important matter is, however, that it showed which 
side they were on. 

There is another army, enlisted in the service of Prince 
Immanuel. It is made up of those who believe in the 
fundamental truths of Christianity and are willing that 
Jesus Christ shall lead them in conquering the world 
for God. Do you, friend, believe in him ? Do you be- 
lieve that he suffered and died for our deliverance from 
sin? Do you cherish the hope that, in receiving him as 



I56 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

your personal Saviour, you have been received into the 
glory of the endless life ? Where, then, is your uniform ? 
Come out from the world and be ye separate. Quit you 
like men in this matter. Here is the very beginning of 
the Christian life : having accepted Christ, stand forth for 
him. For with the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness, and with the lips confession is made unto salvation. 

II. Promotion. It was not in the nature of things that 
a youth like Nathan Hale should be willing to stand idle 
in the ranks ; he would make his patriotism tell. In com- 
pany with a few comrades he rowed down the North River 
in the darkness of the night and seized a supply-ship from 
under the guns of a British man-of-war. It was a brave 
deed. It merited promotion, and received it. Henceforth 
the young soldier will be known as " Captain " Hale. 

In Christ's army there are multitudes who seem to be 
content with a minimum of duty. It is enough, apparent- 
ly, that their names are upon the roll of the church as 
" in good and regular standing." But there are some, 
the Lord be praised ! who are ready to stand modestly but 
bravely in the front, as true as steel. If at times they are 
criticised for blundering, let it be remembered that those 
who do nothing are exempt from such criticism ; but, alas ! 
their life is one long blunder. Much can be forgiven in 
the life of one whose main purpose is true. The buried 
or ill-invested talent earns no usury: but the faithful 
trustee is made ruler over many things. 

III. Consecration. A call was made at this time for 
volunteers for a most dangerous service. The British had 
seized the lower part of Manhattan Island. It was evi- 
dent that they were meditating a further advance. Wash- 
ington greatly desired to know their plans and purposes. 
The choice fell upon Nathan Hale ; he entered the Brit- 



NATHAN HALE. 1 57 

ish lines in the guise of a countryman, and visited all their 
camps, making drawings and memoranda. He knew his 
life was in peril. The service required of him was one 
which, in case of discovery, would lead to most ignomin- 
ious death ; but he did not shrink from it. 

We honor the man who in the Lord's army braves the 
danger of criticism and the pointed finger and holds 
himself ready for tasks that others shrink from. A few 
days ago the news came to us that the Kearsarge had 
gone down at sea. Why did we grieve? The largest 
craft in our navy might sink and little be thought of it ; 
but the Kearsarge had done one heroic act. She was at 
anchor off the harbor of Cherbourg and over against her 
lay the Alabama, the scourge of the seas. At length out 
she came, and seven times round they sailed, firing broad- 
sides into each other; then the Alabama went down. 
And this is why we mourn for the Kearsarge. Some 
men die and the space they filled closes up before their 
funeral rites are celebrated. Some men live so that they 
are never forgotten. 

" A single hour of glorious fame 
Is worth an age without a name." 

Do something, then, young man. Be somebody. Make 
your life tell, if you are a member of the church of God. 
He has a place for you as really as he had for William 
Carey, or John Howard, Hans Egede, or Allen Gardiner, 
or William Wilberforce. Are you willing to fill it ? 

IV. Failure. The young spy on his way back to 
camp was captured. The proofs of his guilt — the dia- 
grams of the British camp — were found in his shoes. He 
was bound hand and foot and kept all night under guard ; 
sentenced, without trial, to die at break of day. Thus his 
mission ended in ignominious failure, 



158 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Was it failure ? 

The apostle Paul desired above all things to preach 
the gospel in the imperial city. His wish at length was 
gratified. He went to Rome, but, alas ! in chains ; he 
passed along the Appian Way and through the streets to 
the Praetorian camp, where he was long a prisoner. The 
only opportunity he had of preaching the gospel was with 
those who kept guard, or were permitted to visit him ; 
and then he was led out beyond the walls and beheaded. 
Was his mission to Rome therefore a failure? "I am 
in trouble even unto bonds," he writes ; " yet the word of 
God is not bound." Of all living preachers to-day, there 
is not one who addresses such congregations as does St. 
Paul. He stands in all our pulpits proclaiming the glori- 
ous gospel of the blessed God. 

" He always wins who sides with God ; 
To him no chance is lost ; 
God's will is sweetest to him when 
It triumphs at his cost." 

V. Death, In the early morning he was led out to 
die. A scaffold had been reared in Rutgers' Orchard, not 
far from where the statue stands. The young spy was 
brave as a lion ; he faced his death without a tremor ; his 
last words were, " I regret only that I have but one life to 
lose for my country." Thus he died at the early age of 
twenty-one. It would seem to have been an untimely 
death, and yet his work was done. He had finished a 
rounded life. The fulfilment of his dream of entering 
the ministry could not have bettered it. Life is not to be 
measured in years. There is more priceless carbon in the 
Kohinoor than in a wagon-load of charcoal. The little 
maid in Naaman's palace, who merely pointed her master 



NATHAN HALE. I 59 

to the prophet's house, lived longer than Methuselah, 
with all his uneventful " nine hundred and sixty and nine 
years." 

" It is not growing like a tree 
In bulk doth makp man better be ; 
Or standing like an oak, three hundred year, 
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere : 
A lily of the day 
Is fairer far in May — 
Although it fall and die that night ; 
It was the plant and flower of light. 
In small proportions we just beauties see, 
And in short measures life may perfect be." 

Now three words of practical application. 

i. Show your colors. The good Lord said, " Let your 
light shine." The other day I saw a poacher's lantern — 
made with an opaque slide to cut off every possible beam. 
Are any of us holding our lights as in a poacher's lan- 
tern? Let your light shine. Let it shine like a beacon 
on the headlands. There are ships far out upon the dark 
sea that need it for their guidance into port. There are 
souls waiting upon your influence. Let your light so 
shine that others seeing your good works may glorify 
God. 

2. Be ready at duty's call. Duty is a great word. 
Life is not half so great. When Pompey was commis- 
sioned to take a ship-load of provisions to his starving 
countrymen at Rome a fierce wind arose, insomuch that 
all his friends besought him to delay the voyage. The 
words in which he replied to their solicitations are worthy 
to be written in gold : Necesse est ut earn, non ut vivam ; 
& e., " It is necessary that I shall go, not that I should 
live." A man can indeed get along without living, but 
never, never without attending to his duty. The cutting 



l6o THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

short of life may bring us into glory, but default in duty 
ends our usefulness. 

3. Be steadfast. The patriotism of young Nathan 
Hale may teach us all a lesson in stalwart piety. In the 
face of danger he did not flinch. To the very end he was 
a true man. Our young men are wont to revere the 
memory of the Chevalier Bayard, " the knight without 
fear and without reproach." His face was like adamant 
before his foe, but gentle unto tears in the presence of 
suffering. In his last battle his army was put to rout 
and he mortally wounded through the loins. He stag- 
gered on until, his strength failing him, he leaned against 
a tree to die. Then the Constable Bourbon, coward and 
apostate, came riding by ; it was the hour of his triumph. 
He drew rein, and pointing a derisive finger cried, " Hath 
it come to this, O brave knight ? Hath it indeed come 
to this ? I pity thee." Then Bayard, his eye filming in 
death, answered, " Thou pity me ! I die for my king, 

but thou ! I die for my country, but thou ! 

I die without fear or reproach, but thou — — !" and so 
he fell. There is no better way to die than in standing 
for the truth. Put on your sandals, O youth ! for the 
fight is at short range, and the sword, like that of the 
ancient Roman, is no longer than a man's forearm. Put 
on the sandals of steadfastness, that you may be able to 
withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 
You follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who, under the chill 
shadow of his approaching death, set his face steadfastly 
towards the cross. Never was hero so brave as he. Be 
true to your convictions. Let no man despise thee. Quit 
thyself like a man. Be strong. Let no man take thy 
crown. 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. l6l 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. 



" So Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre." 
Esther 5 : 2. 

In the year 1429 the government of France was in 
sore extremity. The nobility, torn into many factions, 
yielded but a doubtful support to Charles VII., whom 
nobody seemed to like. The city of Orleans was be- 
sieged by the English army and its surrender seemed in- 
evitable. In that contingency the current of all subse- 
quent history would have been changed ; for, as Dr. 
Arnold says, " Had the city succumbed, in all probability 
England would have ultimately become an appendage of 
France." But God is over all things. Men, armies and 
governments are his puppets. He holds the strings. 

So it came about that while Orleans was under siege the 
maid Joan was watching her flocks in the fields near Dom- 
remy, and was seeing visions and hearing voices that said, 
" Go to Orleans and deliver it !" She told the parish 
priest, who said, "How can a maid deliver Orleans? 
Think of the difficulties." She answered, " I fear nothing ; 
the voices have called me and God will clear the way." 
She journeyed, over one hundred and fifty miles of terri- 
tory infested by the enemy, to the camp of Captain Beau- 
dricourt, who brought her into the presence of the Dau- 
phin. " Gentle sir," she said, " I am Jeanne la Chapelle. 
God has sent me to relieve Orleans and confirm thee on the 
throne." She was subjected to a rigid examination as to 

The Religion of the Future J I 



162 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

the genuineness of the voices, and it was determined, in- 
asmuch as things had come to a desperate pass, to suffer 
her to have her way. She was provided with a suit of 
armor as white as a dove's breast, mounted upon a horse 
as black as a raven's plume, and presented with a banner 
on one side of which was the fleur-de-lis and on the 
other the name of Jesus. 

Thus she set forth to the relief of Orleans. As she 
passed through the walled towns and encampments the 
number of her followers increased until she found her- 
self at the head of a formidable army. On reaching 
Orleans she patiently awaited events until the morning 
of the seventh day, when, as the story tells, she awoke 
out of a troubled sleep exclaiming, " My God ! the 
blood of my people reddens the earth. Why was I 
not aroused ? Quick ! My sword, my horse, my ban- 
ner !" The French had already been attacked and were 
being worsted. At her appearance, however, they rallied, 
and fell upon the enemy with such impetuous force as to 
drive them in utter rout ; thus Orleans was saved. The 
bells rang all night and Te Deums were chanted in the 
churches the next day. 

The subsequent Kfe of Joan was filled with bitter trials 
and disappointments, until at length she was betrayed 
by her own countrymen into the hands of the English 
for ten thousand francs. She was imprisoned in an iron 
cage, tried before the Bishop Beauvais and sentenced to 
death. In answer to all charges she answered, " I have 
been divinely led. The voices have not deceived me." 
In the margin of the record are the words Responsio 
mortiferd — " The death -bearing confession." 

On May 30, 1441, she was burned at the stake under 
the shadow of the great cathedral at Rouen. With 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. 163 

her last breath she bore testimony to the genuineness of 
the voices, and then lifting up her eyes uttered the word 
"Jesus," and finished her prayer in heaven. The story 
of her death has been invested with all manner of fables. 
As that an English soldier, who had vowed to cast a fagot 
upon the flames, on attempting to do so started back in 
affright at the instant when she cried "Jesus," and de- 
clared that he saw a white dove escaping from her parted 
lips. 

It was just twenty-five years afterwards that a Court 
of Revision, under the authority of Pope Calixtus III., 
versed the original finding and cleared her of all fault. 
Her name came to be universally revered. When the 
English army, pursuing Napoleon after his defeat, passed 
through the villages of France with sword and torch they 
refrained themselves from harm in Domremy by reason 
of their reverence for Joan. The place of her execution 
in the public square at Rouen is marked by a cross in 
the pavement where pilgrims come to do reverence to 
her memory. And now, after the lapse of four hundred 
years, the church that sentenced her to a most painful 
and ignominious death is about to place her in its calen- 
dar of saints. So time, the great avenger, vindicates her 
memory. 

It may not be unprofitable for us at this juncture to 
review her case. The charges against her were of witch- 
craft and unseemly forwardness. 

I. As to the charge of witchcraft, it rested mainly 
upon her protestation respecting the voices. It is not for 
us to say whether or no God spake audibly to her ; of 
this, however, we may be sure : he does not leave himself 
without witness to any. He speaks to his children in 
many ways. 



164 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

i. By an audible voice. So he spoke to Abram in Ur 
of the Chaldees, saying, " Get thee out from thy country 
and from thy kindred and from thy father's house to a 
land which I shall show thee." So also to Moses in the 
desert of Midian, out of the burning bush, " I have seen 
the affliction of my people, and have heard their cry by 
reason of their taskmasters, and I am come down to de- 
liver them." So also in tones of thunder to the children 
of Israel from the flaming mountain, " I am the Lord thy 
God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt and 
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me." And so to the prophet at the mouth of 
the cave when the wind swept over, and the crackling 
flames, and the earth reeled and tottered under his feet, 
and then the still small voice, " What doest thou here, 
Elijah ?" It is not incredible, therefore, that God should 
address himself audibly to us. If it be said that the time 
of such communications has passed by, we may speak for 
ourselves but not for others. Nor may we put bounds 
and limits upon the power of God. He has never spoken 
to me in an audible voice ; he may never thus have com- 
municated with you ; but it does not follow that he may 
not thus speak to any man. 

2. Through conscience. In this case the communica- 
tion is as real as if it were articulate. And, indeed, what 
is voice but vibrant air ? — and is not conscience the soul 
a-tremble under the touch of God ? It is through con- 
science that he convinces of sin ; through conscience that 
he invites us to the blessedness of the spiritual life. In 
this manner he is constantly in communication with us. 
And yet, by reason of our own wilfulness, conscience is 
not to be relied upon as an infallible guide. The voice 
of the Infinite coming through a perverted medium gives 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. 165 

an uncertain sound. The moral sense was intended to be 
like a finger-board pointing to the kingdom of heaven ; 
but sin has turned it about so that to follow it implicitly is 
to lose the way. To be a conscientious man is not neces- 
sarily to be a good man. 

3. In the Scriptures. These are the court of last 
appeal. If, as frequently occurs, we are in doubt respect- 
ing the judgment of conscience, we may verify it by a 
reference to this word of God. It is the touchstone for all 
thoughts and actions. A man may guess however he 
will respecting the points of the compass, but he never 
can know to a- certainty, until he finds how the magnetic 
needle points. Dr. Holme tells of making a purchase at 
a shop kept by a Scotch v/oman in the days when paper 
money was at its worst. He laid a bank-note on the 
counter, and the shop woman took down her " bank-note 
detector " to test it. At length she thrust back the money, 
saying, " Ah, man, it winna stan' the book." So, when all 
is said and done, the Bible is the ultimate test. If a 
thought or an action " winna stan' the Book," that ends 
it. Conscience may go wrong, but the Scriptures are an 
inerrant guide. The word of the Lord through these 
oracles is yea and amen. 

II. As to the charge of unseemly forwardness. The 
Maid of Orleans did indeed appear in most unwomanly 
guise as she led her army into the fray. Was this other 
than a womanly part, or was she justified in it ? 

1. The most frequent sphere of woman is doubtless the 
ho?ne life. It is safe to say that many a time, in camp 
and in battle, Joan would fain have been back in the 
meadows of Domremy or spinning at her mother's fire- 
side. Here a woman is at her best. Benjamin West 
relates that when, as a mere lad, he rudely drew the picture 



l66 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

of his baby sister, his mother bent over and kissed him ; 
and "that kiss/' he says, "made me," Who shall esti- 
timate the gracious influence of the faithful daughter or 
kind sister? "How far yon little candle throws its 
beams !" 

2. In society also woman finds an important field, and 
many there are who misuse it. There are young women 
in social life whose eyes are as dangerous as those of a 
basilisk, whose locks are like those of the Medusa, and 
whose hands are as talons. Woe to any that may be 
ensnared thereby ! But there are others, bless God ! 
whose speech is courtesy and whose hands are kindness. 
When Joan of Arc went among the French soldiers she 
found them given to profanity, using lightly the names of 
all the blessed Trinity. But such was her gracious influ- 
ence, as she ministered among them in her white armor, 
that, as the record says, " They no longer swore by the 
mass, but by my staff." So may a gentle woman trans- 
form and glorify, if she so pleases, the waste places of 
social life. 

3. And there are times when the broader life of the 
busy world calls for the ministry of woman. There are 
multitudes of good women who, for the sake of a liveli- 
hood or under the stern call of duty, have addressed 
themselves to such responsibilities as are usually assigned 
to the sterner sex. Circumstances alter cases. When 
Vashti was summoned to the festal chamber by her royal 
spouse, who, flushed with wine, desired to make an exhi- 
bition of her charms to his revellers, it is written " she 
refused to come;" she preferred to sacrifice her regal 
honor rather than to expose herself to dishonor. But 
when Esther was divinely commanded to go into the 
same presence in behalf of her doomed people she an- 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. 167 

swered bravely, "I will go in unto the king; and if I 
perish, I perish." Which won the greater honor it would 
be difficult to say. But surely there are times when good 
women are divinely constrained to make their influence 
felt even in the more boisterous walks of secular life. 

4. It remains, however, to speak of the broadest 
field : to wit — The Church of Jesus Christ We are 
fond of quoting from Paul, " Let the women keep silence 
in the churches." But, alas ! that we should have been 
so long in discovering that the silence here enjoined is 
not the silence of death. We remember how it is written, 
" I will not that a woman should teach." But we have 
been loth to admit, that, apart from the teaching here 
referred to — canonical and dogmatic — there is another 
sort in which woman has proved herself to be splendidly 
efficient and wherein she has received an unquestioned 
blessing. The age has moreover vindicated her right to 
an important place in the great propaganda. The work 
now being accomplished in missions would have been im- 
possible but for her participation. She has gone with her 
brethren to the high places of the field, as Deborah went 
up with Barak to Esdraelon, and in her ministries in the 
school, the zenana, and the hospital she has " trodden 
down strength." 

The largest active volcano in the world is in the 
island of Hawaii. A heavy cloud of vapor hangs over 
it, glowing at night like a forest in flames. It is little 
wonder that its awful splendor was associated by the 
islanders with their infernal gods. Here was the home 
of the evil Pele. By her decree no woman was permitted 
to set foot on this mountain under penalty of death. The 
missionaries came, and by their preaching many were led 
to acknowledge the Christ. But it was hard to cut loose 



168 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

from their former superstitions, dwelling, as they did, in 
the shadow of Pele's mountain. The hour of duty had 
come. Some woman must break the spell. It was Kapi- 
olani who offered herself. On the appointed day the 
people were assembled to witness her formal defiance of 
their goddess. She approached the sacred tree of Pele 
and plucked a cluster of berries from it ; they watched to 
see her fall dead, but she turned, smiled upon them, and 
then set her face towards the mountain path. Over fields 
of lava and crumbling cinders she went, and up the ragged 
steeps, until she reached the crag where the priests of 
Pele had their temple : there they stood uttering maledic- 
tions; the people looked to see her fall dead, but she 
turned and smiled upon them and passed on. Upward 
they saw her climbing, bearing in her hand the sacred 
berries and praying as she went ; she neared the edge of 
the smoking crater; she lifted the spray of berries, and 
with the words, " I defy the wrath of Pele in the name of 
Jesus the Christ," she tossed it in. They looked to see 
her fall dead, but she turned, smiling, and began the de- 
scent. The spell of Pele was broken, and the people 
of Hawaii have since that day acknowledged the Christ. 
There have been times in history when woman has been 
enabled thus to render a conspicuous service which no 
other could do. The time would fail me to tell of those 
who have stood in the very van of noble reforms and 
in the advancement of the gospel of Christ. 

In brief, the lesson of Joan's life is one of entire conse- 
cration. It was a blessed word that the virgin mother 
spoke to the servants at Cana, " Whatsoever he saith 
unto you, do it." The restitution of all things awaits the 
day when the men and women of Christ shall hold them- 
selves obedient to the heavenly voices. All things are 



ST. JOAN OF ARC. 169 

ready; the cross has been reared and the Sacrifice slain. 
All things are ready ; the unspeakable gift of the Spirit 
has been bestowed upon us — the unction of the Holy 
One, the baptism of fire and power. All things are ready ; 
the great commission has been given, " Go ye, evangel- 
ize." From the obligation of that word there is no ex- 
emption ; we are all alike included in it. When we are 
ready to acknowledge this obligation, and proceed to do 
the Master's work, his coming will draw near. The trees 
of the fields shall clap their hands before him, the desert 
shall rejoice and blossom like the rose, and no one will 
thenceforth need to say to his neighbor, " Know the 
Lord," for all shall know him. 



170 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE APPEAL TO CiESAR. 



" I appeal unto Caesar." Acts 25:11. 

When St. Paul was going up to attend the passover 
at Jerusalem he was approached by a prophet named 
Agabus, who loosed the apostle's girdle and bound it on 
his own hands and feet, saying as he did so, " Thus saith 
the Holy Ghost, So shall the man to whom this girdle 
belongs be bound and delivered at Jerusalem. " It was 
not the only intimation Paul had received of impending 
danger. On the shore at Miletus he had listened to 
the entreaties of the elders who besought him not to go 
up to Jerusalem, and he left them weeping there because, 
as they said, "they should see his face no more." At 
other stations on his journey he met with the same voice 
of warning. His friends all believed that he was going to 
his death. But Paul was not the man to be scared from 
his duty. His mind was made up, and not for a moment 
would he think of turning back. To the words of Agabus, 
to the tears of the elders, to the entreaties of the brethren, 
he had but one answer: "I am ready not only to be 
bound but to die for the Lord Jesus at Jerusalem." 

On the eighth day of May, in the year 56, he reached 
his journey's end. The city was crowded with such as 
had come from all parts of the empire to attend the great 
festival. One day, not long after his arrival, as he was 
standing quietly in the temple court he was recognized 
by some of his old enemies, who straightway began to 
cry, " Men and brethren, help ! This is the man that 
teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the 



THE APPEAL TO C^SAR. 171 

law !" In a moment he was surrounded by an angry mob. 
who dragged him down the steps and out of the sacred 
enclosure — with blows, and cries of " Away with him ! 
Away with him !" — on towards the very spot where twen- 
ty years before he had held the clothes of those who 
stoned the proto-martyr. But fortunately the uproar had 
by this time been reported to the governor of the castle, 
who came to the rescue with a company of Roman 
guards. In their hands Paul was hurried away to the 
fortress ; the people still following with angry outcries 
until they reached the stairway of the castle of Antonia. 
Here Paul asked the privilege of addressing the multi- 
tude ; and, turning about, he spoke to them in Hebrew. 
The sound of that sacred tongue was like oil upon the 
waters. Paul had never addressed so vast, so angry, or 
so dangerous an audience as here, but all were hushed as 
the tones of this greatest of living rhetoricians fell upon 
their ears. " Fathers and brethren, hear me !" And from 
that point onward they listened till he spoke of the calling 
of the Gentiles. This was the signal for an outbreak of 
renewed violence. They rent their garments and threw 
dust into the air. They cried, " Away with him ! It is 
not fit that such a fellow should live !" Their anger was 
only allayed by the praetor's assurance that Paul should 
be examined by scourging and his offence be ascertained. 
We find him accordingly stripped and ready to receive 
his forty stripes save one. But just as the lash was raised 
he quietly demanded, " Is it lawful to scourge a man that 
is a Roman and uncondemned ?" That was a magic word. 
It terrified the magistrate. There was danger of his being 
called in question for a flagrant violation of the imperial 
law, for he had laid rude hands upon the sacred person 
of a Roman citizen. At once his cords were untied, the 



172 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

instruments of torture were removed, and the prisoner was 
committed to await a regular trial. 

Not long after, on the discovery of a plot against his 
life, it was deemed advisable to remove him to Csesarea. 
He was taken thither under a strong escort and confined 
in the praetorium. A few days later the high priest 
and certain members of the Sanhedrin came down from 
Jerusalem and brought with them a celebrated advocate, 
named Tertullus, to conduct the prosecution. He pre- 
sented the charges in a speech of great power and dex- 
terity, accusing the prisoner (i) of heresy, (2) of sacri- 
lege, and (3) of treason. The case thus opened was con- 
tinued from time to time, until at length, in the court of 
Festus, it was brought to a sudden and unexpected end. 
Paul saw that bribery and political influence were against 
him. He was weary of being beaten about from pillar to 
post. It was now proposed to send him back again for 
trial at Jerusalem. He knew full well the danger that 
lurked in that proposal. They had played with him long 
enough. He therefore arose and said : " To the Jews I 
have done no wrong ; if I am guilty of breaking the law, 
or have done anything worthy of death, I refuse not to 
die ! But if the things whereof these men accuse me are 
untrue no man shall deliver me into their hands. I appeal 
unto Ccesar /" 

That little sentence was fraught with the issues of life 
and death. It changed the man's whole future. Festus 
was amazed at the turn which events were taking, and 
affronted also by the boldness of the prisoner. Gladly 
would he have refused the demand but it was beyond his 
power, for Paul was a free-born Roman. " Hast thou 
appealed unto Caesar? To Caesar shalt thou go !" Thus, 
by the utterance of a few potent words, Paul instantly re- 



THE APPEAL TO CAESAR. 1 73 

moved his cause from the jurisdiction of a petty provincial 
magistrate to the supreme tribunal of the empire. 

There is food for meditation in those words. They 
were among the noblest and manliest the apostle ever 
spoke ; worthy of one who never quailed before a tyrant 
or bowed before a mob. There is a notion in some quar- 
ters that a man in coming to be a Christian lowers the 
full measure of his self-respect and independence. This, 
however, is so far from being true that the best definition 
of a Christian is " the highest style of man." When Tom 
Brown of Rugby, writing on true manliness, sought for 
the noblest illustration of his theme he found it in Jesus 
Christ, the ideal man. Yet did not Jesus lay down the 
rule, " I say unto you, Resist not evil, but whosoever 
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other 
also ; and if any man take away thy coat, let him have 
thy cloak also ; give to him that asketh of thee, and from 
him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away"? 
And how shall this be reconciled with the appeal to 
Caesar ? 

Would it not have been more becoming in Paul, as a 
follower of the meek and lowly Jesus, to submit to the 
impositions of Festus rather than to resist them ? Nay, 
if this interpretation were put upon the saying of Jesus it 
would involve not only the sacrifice of personal man- 
hood but the overthrow of social order. To turn the 
other cheek to the smiter would be merely a provocation 
to further violence. To give to every sturdy beggar that 
asketh of thee would be lending a hand to indolence and 
to encourage professional unthrift. The Lord's words 
are to be interpreted in the light of their context. He 
had just been noting the old rule, "An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth." This rule, he says, is not the 



174 TH E RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

order of the gospel. Avenge not yourselves; be not 
spiteful and vindictive ; resort not to the Lex Talionis ; 
anticipate not the functions of the magistrates ; but, as 
much as lieth in you, be at peace with all men. 

Our Lord Jesus interpreted his command of turning 
the other cheek when he was undergoing a preliminary 
mock-trial before the Sanhedrin. Being interrogated by 
the high priest of his disciples and his doctrine, Jesus re- 
plied, li I have spoken openly to the world, teaching in the 
most public places. Why askest thou me ? ask them 
that have heard me ;" thus demanding witnesses and at 
least a show of judicial procedure. And when one of 
the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, say- 
ing, "Answerest thou the high priest so ?" Jesus did not 
turn the other cheek for a repetition of that foul and ille- 
gal blow, but he again with dignity asked for his rights. 
" If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil : but if 
well, why smitest thou me ?" The literal interpretations 
of Tolstoi are forever dissipated by a reference to the 
holy and spotless example of dignified self-respect along 
with the harmlessness of a dove in the example of the 
Master in the crisis of his life. 

A German writer says, "A disposition to reconciliation 
must be as strong as life and unquenchable as the im- 
mortal soul; but the act of peace should be as discrimi- 
nating as the distribution of pearls. If thou canst heap 
coals of fire on the head of thine enemy, or serve the wel- 
fare of thy fellow men, then mayest thou literally turn the 
other cheek. But if thy wheat would fall among the 
hemlock thou wouldst better keep it for the more propi- 
tious soil, and stand upon thy rights !" 

I. Paul was here defending his life. All that a man 
hath will he give for his life. Why not? i. It is not 



THE APPEAL TO CAESAR. 1 75 

our own ; it is God's breath in our nostrils, coming from 
him and to return to him. Our prime duty is, therefore, 
to protect it. When Brasidas was wearied with fleeing 
from his foes, and had cast himself upon the earth in utter 
despair, he reached into his wallet for dry figs and was 
bitten by a mouse. <; My Hercules ! A miserable mouse 
will defend its life, and shall not I ?" Thus he plucked 
up courage and sped on. 2. The life which is thus en- 
trusted to us as a divine inheritance is not to be thrown 
away. Suicide is worse than homicide, for to blood- 
guiltiness it adds the shame of utter cowardice. In these 
times of anxiety and suffering there are many who, rather 
than endure the ills they have, prefer to flee to others 
that they know not of. 

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely : 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin !" 

3. But life is only valuable for what can be crowded into 
it. Life must be appraised in terms of duty. And the 
point is sometimes reached where duty demands the sur- 
render of life. Our Lord was careful to expose himself to 
no unnecessary danger. He frequently escaped out of 
the midst of his enemies and went his way because his 
hour was not yet come. But at length, under the shadow 
of the olive trees on Gethsemane, he said to his pursuers, 
"Whom seek ye?" " Jesus of Nazareth." "I am he." 
Then was he led as a lamb to the slaughter ; as a sheep 
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 
Let it be observed, however, that this was not a mere 
aimless or despairing non-resistance ; it was with a defi- 
nite purpose: he chose to endure the bufferings and 
contradictions of a sinful world in order that he might 



176 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

accomplish the glorious work of redemption. He saw 
afar off the fruit of the travail of his soul. 

II. Paul was here standing for his rights as a man. 

It is much to be feared that there are too many Chris- 
tians who, suffering wrong without resistance, imagine 
themselves to be in this the followers of the meek and 
lowly Jesus. It may well be asked of them, Who hath 
required this at your hands ? This is not the spirit of 
Jesus but rather of Shylock, who said : 

1 ' Many a time and oft 
In the Rialto have you rated me ; 
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, 
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe." 

But sufferance is not the badge of the fellowship of Christ. 
The church has taken up arms again and again in right- 
eous self-defence, and points with honorable pride to the 
record of the Vaudois, the Puritans, the Covenanters, the 
Huguenots, the Beggars of Holland, who fought for 
Christ's crown and covenant, and adventured all in de- 
fense of their personal rights. 

We are, indeed, required to be meek ; but there is 
meekness and meekness. There is the meekness of 
Uriah Heap, who was proud of being 'umble as Diogenes 
was proud of his rags. There is the meekness of Moses, 
who slew the Egyptian task-master, who whipped Pha- 
raoh into submission to the divine will, and whose eyes 
flashed fire as, coming down from the mountain, he saw 
the multitudes dancing in mad orgies round the golden 
calf. 

No better definition of humility could be found than 
that of John Milton : " It is that lofty lowliness of mind 
which is exalted by its own humiliation. " It is the very 
opposite of servility. It is quite consistent with personal 



THE APPEAL TO C^SAR. 1 77 

dignity and independence. Paul reckoned himself the 
least among all saints, yet was he not willing to be mo- 
lested in his rights unless he saw a suitable compensation 
for it. All night long he lay in the prison at Philippi, his 
feet in the stocks, his back smarting from the scourge. 
In the morning the mayor, alarmed by the earthquake, 
would fain have dismissed him ; but Paul said, " They 
have beaten us openly and cast us into prison, and now 
will they thrust us out privily ? Nay, indeed ; we are- 
Roman citizens ; let them come themselves and fetch us 
out." Would to God there was more of this self-respect- 
ing spirit of manhood in the church of Jesus Christ ! 

III. The key to the problem is here : the right of self- 
defence ends where the duty of self-sacrifice begins ; and 
the duty of self-sacrifice begins at the point where, by sur- 
rendering, we serve our fellow-men. We are debtors to 
all men. To do good is our supreme privilege. For 
that all rights are waived and all prerogatives must stand 
aside. When the cross beckons the word comes, " Put up 
thy sword into the sheath." It is written that Jesus emp- 
tied himself for us. He laid aside his diadem, his royal 
purple, the homage of the angelic host ; he turned not his 
back from smiting, nor his face from spitting, but became 
obedient unto death for us. Let that mind be in you 
which was also in Christ Jesus. 

The spirit of Paul is manifest in his position respecting 
meats offered to idols. An idol was nothing at all to 
him, and what mattered it whether the meat upon his 
table had been previously laid upon a pagan altar ? But 
there were others, whose consciences were weak and who, 
partaking, might be tempted away from their fealty to 
Christ. So said Paul, " If meat make my brother to 
offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth," 

Religion of the Future. I 2 



178 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

That was a glorious declaration of independence. A man 
may indeed stand upon his rights, but for a Christian the 
supreme right is to surrender all for others. In this he 
best quits himself like a man. 

The last appearance of Paul at the Caesarean court 
was on the occasion of King Agrippa's visit. He was 
brought to the audience- room in chains to display his elo- 
quence. He told again the story of his conversion : " At 
mid-day, O king, I saw a light from heaven above the 
brightness of the sun;" the story that Paul was always 
glad to tell. He announced his calling to preach the gos- 
pel to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and turn them 
from darkness to light. So earnest was he that Festus 
said with a loud voice, " Paul, thou art beside thyself; 
much learning hath made thee mad." He answered, " I 
am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of 
truth and soberness. For the king knoweth," and thereat 
he turned to Agrippa, saying, " I know that thou believ- 
est." The king evaded the thrust with an equivocal 
jest: " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." 
Was there ever courtesy greater than that of Paul's 
reply : " I would to God, O king, that not only thou, but 
all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether 
such as I am," and raising his fettered hands he patheti- 
cally added, " except these bonds " ! At the conference 
which followed it was decided that Paul might have been 
set at liberty had he not appealed to Caesar. But it was 
too late. So to Rome he went, and there, during two 
years in the Mamertine prison and Praetorium camp, he 
served God in the preaching of the glorious gospel. 
Then the end came. He was ready. " I have fought a 
good fight," said he ; "I have finished my course ; I have 
kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 



THE APPEAL TO CESAR. 1 79 

which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day." 

The Lord make us faithful, that we too may finish our 
course with joy ! Let us acquit ourselves as true men ; 
permitting none to take our crown, none to despise us ; 
accounting it our highest privilege to surrender all in be- 
half of our fellow-men ; for we are not our own, we are 
bought with a price ; not silver and gold, but the precious 
blood of Jesus, as of a lamb without blemish and without 
spot. Wherefore let us glorify God in our body and in 
our spirit which are his. 



l8o THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 



"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when 
they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, 
and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before 
him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews ! Matt. 
27:28, 29. 

Our Master is a King. He walks through Scripture 
with a regal step. The prophets announce him as the 
Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Ever- 
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace." There is a fore- 
gleam of his glory in the sanctuary service : " Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting 
doors, and let the King of Glory enter in ! — Who is this 
King of Glory? — The Lord of hosts, he is the King of 
Glory." As the time draws near it is the King's herald 
who goes before him, crying, " Prepare ye, prepare ye the 
way ; One cometh whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy 
to unloose." On his way to the holy city a multitude go 
before him, bearing palm branches, casting their garments 
in the way, and crying, " Hosanna ! hosanna to the Son 
of David ! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord !" He was cut off in the midst of his days by an 
ignominious death ; but those who prepared the super- 
scription for his cross wrote better than they knew: 
" Jesus of Nazareth, King of the whole Israel of God." 
Years passed, and the patriarch of the apostolic circle 
dreamed in Patmos : " I saw seven golden candlesticks ; 
and in the midst one like unto the Son of man, clothed 
in the garment of a royal priest, and girt with a golden 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. l8l 

girdle ; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his 
strength. His eyes were like flaming fire ; his voice was 
as the sound of many waters ; and upon his vesture and 
thigh a name was written, King of kings and Lord of 
lords I" 

But the glory of the eternal King was laid aside when 
he took flesh upon him. There was no halo about his 
head, he wore no regal purple, but was simply a man 
among men. So disguised was he that, as it is written, 
" There was no form nor comeliness in him, nor any 
beauty that men should desire him." In the time of the 
Saxon extremity Alfred the Great made his way into the 
Danish camp in the guise of a strolling harper, and so 
disported himself among the rude soldiers with merry jest 
that the camp was filled with laughter ; but all the while 
his heart was full of hostility and his eyes were taking note 
of the strength and position of his enemies that he might 
destroy them. The King of heaven came down and dwelt 
in disguise among us, but there was no bitterness in his 
heart. He came not to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved. 

To-day we behold the King crowned with thorns and 
decked with ribald purple ; his cheeks are crimsoned with 
blows and bufferings. He who through all eternity had 
been familiar with the homage of angels and archangels 
was now greeted with mock obeisance, and the derisive cry, 
" All hail, King of the Jews !" He, who in the beginning 
sat upon the circle of the universe and called into being 
the things that are out of the things that were not, wields 
as his sceptre an impotent reed. The stars of heaven had 
adorned his diadem; now his brow is encircled with a 
crown of thorns and blood trickles over his face. Behold 
the man ! And this was done in the house of his friends. 



1 82 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

O ye pitiless Jews ! what if ye had known that every 
knee in heaven and earth should one day bend in rever- 
ence before him ? O ye Roman guards ! what if ye had 
known that presently all the thrones of the Caesars were 
destined to go down in fire and blood before him ? O 
jealous God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! how 
long wilt thou suffer shame to be put upon him ? Draw 
thou the veil for but a moment and let these eyes that in- 
solently glare upon thy well-beloved be blinded with a 
vision of the glory which he had with thee before the 
world was ! O thou co-eternal Son of the eternal God ! 
to what purpose dost thou abase thyself? We have 
sinned and thou art scourged ! We have disrobed our- 
selves of truth and goodness and thou art clothed in robes 
of dishonor ! We have smitten thee and thou art smitten 
for us ! For us thou art made a by-word and a laugh- 
ing-stock ! Behold the man ! 

Not only in the shameful past was Jesus crowned with 
thorns, but now also in this waning century, and after he 
has been preached nigh two thousand years, our Lord is 
crowned with thorns and put to shame in the house of 
his friends. 

I. We put our Lord Jesus to shame by our half -heart- 
edness. " My son, give me thy heart," is his demand, and 
we give him half. He is dishonored by the offering of a 
divided life. No man can serve two masters, for either he 
will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold 
to the one and despise the other. The thing is impossible 
and absurd, and yet we are ever attempting it. When the 
Czar of Russia came to visit Queen Victoria the keys of 
London were presented to him at Temple Bar, and with 
them the freedom of the city. He might go where he 
would. The old Tower, and Westminster, and all the pal- 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 1 83 

aces and all the thoroughfares were his. So when our 
King comes the keys must be handed over. Alas ! if pass- 
ing up and down through our hearts he shall knock here 
and there at a chamber door to find it closed against him. 
Is it here that we keep our cherished idols ? Is it here that 
we go to fondle our darling sin ? Oh, friends, let us be 
one thing or the other. Let us crown our Redeemer with 
our purest homage or spare him the contumely of the 
thorns. No cast-off purple for him. If we cannot give 
the ermine, let us forbear to mock him with a worn-out 
garment. All or nothing for the King ' 

" Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee ; 
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love ; 
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee ; 
Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King; 
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee ; 
Take my silver and my gold — not a mite would I withhold ; 
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in endless praise ; 
Take my intellect and use every power as thou shalt choose ; 
Take my will and make it thine ; it shall be no longer mine ; 
Take my heart, it is thine own ; it shall be thy royal throne ; 
Take my love, my God ; I pour at thy feet its treasure store ; 
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee !" 

II. We dishonor Christ by worldly conformity. It 
was said in the olden time, " Israel shall abide alone and 
shall not be reckoned among the nations. ,, To this end 
God secluded his people in Palestine as in a closet, walled 
in by mountains on the north, the desert on the south, the 
high cliffs to the east of Jordan, and westward the great 
sea. And when they were driven out of Palestine he kept 
them still a peculiar people. To this day Israel is singu- 
lar among the nations, like the Gulf-stream flowing through 
the mighty deeps. " Be ye separate " is his word to us. 
" Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy 



1 84 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the 
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into 
his marvellous light/ ' 

There is a line, real, yet invisible as the tropics, divi- 
ding between the world and the people of God. On the 
one hand there is danger that we may make artificial dis- 
tinctions, and draw the line where God never intended it 
to be; on the other, we are constantly tempted to obliter- 
ate the boundary and adjust our lives to the methods of 
the world. Just where is the line of separation ? At sin. 
Sin is the danger line. God help us to keep ourselves 
from passing it. He who cherishes sin in any form is 
sure to be defiled by it. To rest one's head in Delilah's 
lap is to be shorn of one's locks, sooner or later, and to 
be set grinding at the mill in Dagon's temple. To pitch 
one's tent toward Sodom is to be inevitably drawn into 
complicity with ungodliness and to share in the misfor- 
tune of the doomed city. To warm one's hands, like 
Peter in the high priest's palace, at the fire which the 
enemies of Christ have kindled is foolhardiness which 
too often ends in the denial of the Lord. Our safety lies 
in total abstinence. Touch not, taste not, handle not the 
unclean thing. 

III. We subject our Lord to scorn by pharisaic ex- 
clusiveness. " One family we dwell in him." His prayer 
was that " they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in 
me and I in thee, that the world may believe lhat thou 
hast sent me." From this we proceed to argue for 
church union; for the obliteration of denominational 
lines. It is not denominationalism, however, that dis- 
honors the Saviour in these days. On the other hand, 
the denominations which are founded upon the sound 
principle of difference of opinion in non-essentials were 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 1 85 

never so kindly disposed towards each other. There is 
no quarrel among the denominations. No, no. The 
thing we want is not church union, but Christian union. 
We need to feel that all members of the great family are 
one in Jesus Christ. There is no room for either churches 
for the rich or churches for the poor. The very sugges- 
tion of caste in this fellowship must give a stinking savor 
in the nostrils of God. There is one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism, one God, and one Father of us all. 

It is said that the " Avenue Churches " have no wel- 
come for the poor. I do not believe it. But there is no- 
where in the wealthy churches so much of the spirit of 
kinship as there should be. We speak of the evangeliza- 
tion of the " lapsed masses " and of the " unchurched 
multitudes," but we are too willing to farm out this work 
of evangelization to the Salvation Army and kindred 
bodies, " whose methods/' as we say, "are better adapted 
to it." But do we remember that our Lord Jesus paid 
special attention to these multitudes ? He came to seek 
and to save the lost. He went up to Sychar, to speak 
with a woman of the town. He went up to the land of 
the Gadarenes, to save a demoniac who was feared by all. 
He suffered a repentant courtesan to anoint his feet. The 
last thing he ever did was to save a pariah ; and he went 
back to his eternal glory leading by the hand a penitent 
thief. The servant is not greater than his lord ; nor bet- 
ter than his lord ; nor more respectable than his lord. 
Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be also in us. 

IV. We dishonor Christ by our melancholy. We are 
indeed born to trouble as the sparks do fly upward ; but 
in this we are no more unfortunate than other men, and 
there are some things which ought to make us very 
happy if we are the children oi God : 1. He knows. He 



1 86 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

is aware of all the burdens that rest upon us. He sitteth 
as a refiner of silver, so that no trial is permitted to come 
upon us beyond what we are able to bear. 2. All things 
work together for good to them that love him; our 
tribulation worketh for us the peaceable fruits of right- 
eousness, if we are exercised thereby. That is to say, 
they perfect our character. The perfume comes from the 
bruising of the herb ; the splendor of the diamond from its 
grinding. 3. These light afflictions, which are but for a 
little while, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. Glory ! A mule-driver in the army of 
Alexander, finding that his beast of burden was wearied 
with the bags of the king's treasure, laid them on his own 
shoulders and carried them for a time, until he also bowed 
beneath them. The king, who had been noting this, said, 
" Man, be of good courage; bear the burden to thy tent, 
for it is thine own !" His own ? How every weary sinew 
took new strength from that word ! Our sorrows are the 
earnest of an endless glory. We can bear them bravely 
to our tents. Why should our countenances be cast 
down when we are the children of the King, and all the 
delights of heaven are before us ? 

V. Our formalism is an offense to the Lord. Once 
it is said God laughed. It was when the kings of the 
earth set themselves and the rulers took counsel together, 
saying, " Let us break his bands asunder and cast away 
his cords from us." Once it is said that he was affected 
with nausea. It was when his people were keeping up the 
form of outward worship while their heart was not in it : 
" To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto 
me ? saith the Lord : I am full of the burnt offerings of 
rams, and the fat of beasts. Bring no more vain oblations ; 
your incense is an abomination unto me ; the new moons 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 1 87 

and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
with them; I am weary to bear them." 

Let us take heed and beware of lip service — that 
veneering of piety which called down upon the Pharisees 
the indignant reproach, " Ye are as whited sepulchres, 
fair without, but within full of dead men's bones and all 
uncleanness." Oliver Goldsmith said, " I take my shoes 
from my shoemaker, my coat from my tailor, and my 
religion from my priest." The father of the poet Shelley 
used to say, 

" At church on Sunday to attend 
Will serve to make the world your friend." 

This is the sort of empty show that puts our divine Lord 
to an open shame. It is a weariness unto him ; he cannot 
away with it. 

VI. We affront him by our cowardice. In the judg- 
ment hall that day there must have been some who loved 
him — who were called his disciples. There must have 
been some who had felt his healing touch. Why did 
they utter no word of protest when they saw him decked 
out in those fantastic robes — when the soldiers knelt be- 
fore him in mock obeisance? Why did they not cry out, 
"Take heed! This is the holy One of God"? That 
would have involved them in like danger with him ; but 
death is preferable to a silence which makes us accessary 
with sin. 

"Add to your faith virtus" said the apostle Paul ; 
that is, the courage of a Roman knight. We are to 
endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. The 
proclamation of Gideon to his army at the well of Harod 
rings out this day louder than ever : " Whosoever is afraid, 
let him arise and depart early from the camp." The 
Lord's host is enveloped in the smoke of battle. Ye that 



1 88 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

are men, now serve him. Let us not fear to stand up 
for Jesus — to confess his love in the world's presence. 
Let us not shrink from the duty of rebuking sin and 
warning the ungodly to flee from the wrath to come. 
The service of our Lord is not a dress parade. We 
wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principali- 
ties and powers. Therefore, quit you like men. The 
call is for Daniels, who shall pray at their open windows 
in defiance of royal edicts. The call is for witnesses like 
those of Smithfield and the Inquisition, who sang the 
Gaudeamus while their flesh was hissing in the flames. 
The call is for a braver ministry and a more fearless body 
of believers, who shall lift up their voices in every judg- 
ment hall and tear the beggar's purple from the King ; 
who shall cry, " All hail !" with voices so clear that every 
hostile sword shall leap from its scabbard to give them 
welcome into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. 
Are you afraid ? Drag your fears to the altar, as Elijah 
did the prophets of Baal, and slay them before God ! 

VII. We put dishonor on our blessed Lord by our 
indiffei'ence to his work. The command is, " Seek ye 
first of all the kingdom of God." That means that our 
supreme concern must be for the conversion of souls. 
" Go ye, evangelize." But how can we, when every mo- 
ment is consumed in secular tasks ? How can we, when 
our utmost endeavor is needed for the toil that keeps 
soul and body together ? Ah, friends, the trouble lies not 
there. I have stood beside a weaver at his loom and 
noted his interest in conversation, while all the while the 
shuttle flew to and fro and the pattern was forming in the 
fabric. A man can look to food and raiment and still be 
intent upon the affairs of the kingdom every hour of the 
day. William Carey sat in his cobbler-shop in North- 



THE CROWN OF THORNS. 1 89 

amptonshire with lap-stone on his knee hammering for a 
livelihood. But on the wall beside him hung a map of the 
world — and his heart was above his shop. He was ever 
hearing his Master's word, " Go ye." His heart was in 
far-off India, and while cobbling shoes he was bringing 
the Hindoos into the light of God. In like manner our 
first interest should be in the service of our Lord. There 
is such a thing as an active Christian life ; an unreserved 
Christian life. Do we know it ? Have we attained unto 
it? 

But though we thus speak, beloved, we are persuaded 
better things of you. It is right that the average Chris- 
tian should have credit for desiring to live a holy and 
consistent life. We are all alike, however, in falling short 
of the glory of God. Paul said, "I count not myself to 
have apprehended;" but he added, " this one thing I do : 
forgetting the things whiph are behind I reach forth unto 
those which are before, and press toward the mark for 
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus !" 
Let us be loyal to our King. And let us ever remember 
that he is King of kings ! Write it in your counting- 
room. Write it above your family altars. Write it on 
your hearts. The Lord is King ! If he must needs wear 
a crown of thorns and a cast-off robe, let Pilate's soldiers 
put them on. Stand thou aside in loyal grief. Be true 
to the Lord Christ ! For thou shalt yet behold him in 
the clouds of heaven and all the holy angels with him. 
Keep thyself in readiness for the strewing of the palm 
fronds and the cry, " Hosanna ! hosanna ! to the Son of 
David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord !" 



190 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



GOOD OUT OF NAZARETH. 



" Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" John i .-46. 

And why should not a good thing come out of Naza- 
areth ? It was a town so beautiful for situation as to be 
called " a pearl in a casket of emeralds." It stood in a 
fruitful valley in the Galilean highlands, encircled by a 
belt of rounded hills. In the foreground were gardens 
enclosed by cactus hedges, with here and there a pasture 
or a grainfield, or a grove of venerable olive trees ; be- 
yond, beyond, and yet beyond, were the everlasting 
mountains : the long range of Carmel, traversed by the 
shadows of the hurrying clouds ; Gilead, with its rug- 
ged limestone cliffs; Hermon, crowned with a green 
garland and towering aloft like Saul among the prophets. 
If the religion of nature were sufficient for the wants of 
the human soul, surely those who lived in the midst of 
this quiet beauty of the valleys and this sublime glory of 
the mountains should have been distinguished for holy 
character. But, alas ! the sweetest homilies of nature are 
vain as the tinkling of cymbals, unless the eyes of the 
spirit are opened to look through nature up to nature's 
God. So it happened that the people of Nazareth were 
" sinners above all the Galileans." To be a Nazarene 
was to be a pariah. The name was a hissing and a by- 
word. The words of Philip were a proverb : " Can any 
good thing come out of Nazareth?" It was now to re- 
ceive an extraordinary answer in the person of Jesus ; for 
he, the chiefest among ten thousand and the one alto- 



GOOD OUT OF NAZARETH. 191 

gether lovely, whose character was light and in whom 
was no darkness at all, was a dweller in that despised 
town. He, the root and offspring of David, was indeed a 
root out of dry ground. In this it would appear that 
God intended to bring together heaven's glory and earth's 
deepest guilt, and to set forth his power to make the 
desert blossom as the rose. 

It was a fair question : " Can any good thing come 
out of Nazareth ?" And it was a fair answer : " Come 
and see." See what? The best thing that earth or 
heaven ever looked on — Jesus of Nazareth ; in whom is 
formulated this truth — that a man is not the creature of 
circumstances. As Macaulay says, " The mark of true 
greatness is to prove one's self superior to circumstances 
and to conquer one's environment." God is stronger 
than the prince of darkness. Good is higher than evil. 
Out of the eater comes forth meat ; out of the strong 
comes forth sweetness. In the mire of Nazareth grows 
and flourishes the spotless lily of character. 

There are many reasons why Nazareth might be re- 
garded, at first sight, as a bad place for the training of one 
intending to build up character and make his life tell. 

I. There was so little room. It was shut in among 
the mountains. Noises of the busy world came from 
afar, and Nazareth seemed scarcely a part of it. 

How many a youth in our country hamlets is impa- 
tient of his narrow place ! What hope is there for an 
ambitious soul in such a pent-up Utica ? Oh, to be in the 
roar and turmoil of the madding crowd ! But there is 
much to be said for a cramped-up environment. The 
exile in Patmos, while the waves of the ALge&n beat 
ceaselessly against that barren rock, must oftentimes 
have looked away towards the west, where the Roman 



192 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Christians were enduring hardship, and towards the east, 
where the followers of Jesus were fighting with beasts at 
Ephesus. As the last survivor of the apostolic circle he 
felt the burden of all the churches ; yet here he was, 
" cabined, cribbed, confined." But Patmos had its uses. 
The" heavens opened to the aged dreamer, and amid a 
panorama of glorious visions He that walked amid the 
seven golden candlesticks, spake through him to all the 
coming ages. So Madame Guyon in the Bastile, cut off 
from the earnest life of the struggling church, poured out 
her soul unto the Lord as in a trysting-place and all 
God's people are grateful for her inspiring meditations. 
She sang : 

" A little bird am I, 

Shut in from fields of air ; 
But in my cage I sit and sing 

To Him who placed me there ; 
Well pleased a prisoner to be 
Since, O my Lord ! it pleaseth thee." 

The secret of right living is, in most cases, to be useful 
in a narrow place. When Louis XIV. asked Colbert 
why, with all the resources of the kingdom, he had not 
succeeded in conquering Holland, " that little country by 
the Zuyder Zee," the answer was, " Your Majesty, these 
people are so much greater than their land." If our field 
of usefulness is narrrow, let us, instead of complaining, 
be sure that we fill it. 

II. Nazareth was no place for an equipment It is 
not to be doubted that the boy Jesus longed many a 
time for the facilities which others enjoyed. There were 
the famous schools at Athens : the Garden, the Academy, 
the Painted Porch ; there was the splendid University at 
Alexandria, where Greek and oriental culture were 



GOOD OUT OF NAZARETH. 193 

taught ; and down at Jerusalem were the rival schools ol 
Hillel and Shammai. But this lad must needs remain at 
Nazareth — the humble cottage his university, the Old 
Testament scriptures his library, and Mary his only 
teacher, unless perchance he was permitted between 
whiles to attend the rabbinical school. 

The ambition of the average boy of to-day is to go 
to college. It must not be presumed, however, that only 
college students are developed into thorough men. In 
Spencer County, Indiana, in 18 16, there was a lad who 
was transported with delight because of an offer of six 
dollars a month for rowing the ferry over Anderson 
Creek. His first savings were invested in Plutarch's 
" Lives," which he read in early mornings by the light of a 
pine torch. He had but one year's schooling altogether, 
yet so well did he use his slight advantages that he be- 
came a liberally educated man ; and when the time came 
he was chosen to steer our ship of state through the 
troubled waters of the Civil War. 

We speak of self-made men, but all men worthy of the 
name are self-made. Some, however, work out their for- 
tunes with more slender materials than others. In a 
recent Japanese exhibit was a pagoda carved out of 
ivory. It was not more beautiful than other products 
of oriental art, yet it attracted general attention because 
a patient artificer had carved it with a bent nail. 

A youth, if so disposed, can find his alma mater al- 
most anywhere. In the great university at On was a lad 
envied by his comrades because he was the adopted son 
of Pharaoh's daughter. Here he acquired the learning 
of the Egyptians, but this did not furnish the working 
capital for his useful life. Down in the desert of Midian, 
watching his flocks, he found his needed curriculum. 

Religion of the Future. 1 3 



194 TH E RELIGION OF THE FUTURE^ 

Ah, that was a college ! The great mountains, the starry 
heavens, long days of meditation in the still pastures — and 
then the burning bush, and the solitude broken by the 
voice of God. 

III. The Youth of Nazareth found no patronage there. 
He knew his great errand. He was ever mindful of the 
baptism wherewith he was to be baptized, but his towns- 
men did not sympathize with him. Not even his breth- 
ren believed in him. There was, indeed, some confi- 
dence between him and his mother — a blessed mother's 
secret, but it was scarcely a matter for her to speak of. 
Thus the lad kept his own counsel and plodded on. 

And many a soul is growing unto perfection in such 
unsympathetic surroundings : the heart filled with great 
hopes and purposes and no one to say God-speed. In a 
little town in Germany a lad was born with a soul for 
music. His father was a barber and surgeon, and had 
become valeUde-chambre to the Elector of Saxony and 
intended that his son should study law. The boy, with 
the complicity of his aunt, smuggled a poor weak- voiced 
spinet into his attic and there he spent the solitary hours. 
At eight years of age he was taken by his father for a 
visit to the castle of Saxe-Weissenfels. While his father 
was conversing with the duke he stole away to the chapel, 
and when they sought him there he sat upon the organ 
stool, like a brownie with dangling feet, in a very heaven 
of melody. In after years he wrote the oratorio of " The 
Messiah." 

And thus it often is, the noblest spirits flourish in 
uncongenial soil. Potted plants have to be content with 
a small stature. Trees that must be boxed and coddled 
are never of much strength. But the oak takes care of 
itself; it grasps the rock beneath and subsidizes all the 



GOOD OUT OF NAZARETH. I95 

helpful factors of the soil ; it throws out its mighty arms 
to winds and tempests. 

" Hurrah for the oak, the brave old oak ! 
Who stands in his pride alone ; 
And still flourish he, a hale green tree, 
When a hundred years are gone !" 

Character is bred amid the storms. Out of such Naza- 
reths come many noble souls ; they flourish and perfect 
themselves amid the most adverse conditions. 

IV. Still further, Nazareth would seem to have been an 
uncongenial place for the training of this earnest Youth 
by reason of the adversities which befell him there. He 
knew what poverty was, he was familiar with affliction ; 
for it would appear that Joseph died during this period, 
leaving the home desolate. Such trials, however, are 
greatly profitable to those who are exercised thereby. 

The rough diamond cried out under the blow of the 
lapidary, " I am content. Let me alone." 

But the artisan answered, as he struck again, " There 
is the making of a glorious thing in thee." 

11 But every blow," answered the rough stone, " pierces 
to my heart." 

"Aye, but after a little it shall work for thee a far 
more exceeding weight of glory." 

" I cannot understand," as blow fell upon blow, " why 
I should suffer in this way." 

"Wait," said the lapidary; " what I do thou knowest 
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." And out of all 
this came the Koh-i-noor to sparkle in the monarch's 
crown. 

After the death of Joseph the oldest son became the 
bread-winner. It devolved upon him to provide for the 
wants of the growing family. Hard work in the shop : 



I96 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

little outlook for ambition ; patient waiting, and wonder- 
ing what this would come to. Many a youth whose small 
earnings go to the support of a widowed mother or other 
dear ones may find encouragement here. We are all 
interested in the " Tales of Shakespeare " by Charles and 
Mary Lamb, but our interest will be heightened if we can 
read between the lines the pathetic story which is written 
there. At the age of twenty-two Mary Lamb killed her 
mother in a sudden frenzy : from that moment Charles 
devoted himself, in constant self-sacrifice, to his "poor 
dear sister." For her sake he gave up the fondest dreams 
of his early manhood. When she felt the approach of 
her frequent spasms of insanity they would go arm in 
arm to Hoxton Asylum, both weeping as they went, and 
he carrying the strait jacket in his hand. A hundred 
pounds was his annual income, and for more than forty 
years he affectionately shared it with her. A simple, un- 
eventful life; yet was there not something splendidly 
heroic in it ? 

V. But the most disheartening among all conditions, in 
the little town where Jesus dwelt, was sin. Sin all around 
him. The air was filled with the discordant sounds of 
blasphemy and uncleanness. Yet, being in Nazareth, he 
was not of it. A man may indeed abide in such an envi- 
ronment and yet be superior ; as some one has said, a 
man cannot prevent an unclean bird from flying over his 
head, but he can prevent it building its nest in his hair. 

It would appear, however, that in this case Jesus had 
greatly the advantage of us in that, while sin was all 
around him, it has invaded our nature. It throbs in our 
veins ; it is woven in the very nature of our being ; brain, 
conscience, and heart are defiled by it. Yet, even so, sin 
may be subsidized to our spiritual growth. Sin is not 



GOOD OUT OF NAZARETH. 197 

excluded from the " all things " which by the overruling 
of divine providence are made to work together for good 
to them that love God. On the one hand, it reveals the 
divine character in clearest light. As we stand by the 
pit out of which we have been delivered we perceive 
God's love in the stretching out of his hands towards us ; 
his holiness, in the immolation of his own Son for the 
satisfaction of righteous law ; his justice, in that he could 
not forgive without such expiation ; his wisdom, in the 
devising of a scheme so simple and yet so glorious as 
that of Calvary ; and his omnipotence, in that hereby he 
is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto him. 
In sin itself there is nothing good, but in the overruling 
of sin there is a great fruitage of spiritual profit. No 
doubt the mother of Bartimeus mourned over the blind- 
ness of her child, but the time came when that blindness, 
like an angel, led him to the wayside when Jesus passed 
by, and won for him the ministry of healing. Then on a 
sudden his eyes were opened to the glory of the hillsides 
and of the heavens above, and, more wonderful still, to 
the beauty of the face of the well-beloved Son of God. 

Then, too, by the overcoming of sin we magnify our 
ultimate triumph. When Pompey returned from his east- 
ern conquests there was a line of barbaric kings who, in 
chains, were dragged at his chariot wheels. Thus at the 
last we shall come to heaven's gate dragging our lusts 
and passions and vanquished habits in chains. Great are 
the rewards offered to " him that overcometh :" a white 
stone with a new name written thereon, access to the tree 
of life in the midst of paradise, a place upon the throne 
beside the King ! 

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Come 
and see. In Jesus behold the answer, and in all who faith- 



198 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

fully follow him. There are multitudes of noble men and 
women who have come out of Nazareth strengthened by- 
adversity and made perfect through suffering. Lift up 
your eyes and see. All heaven is full of souls redeemed 
out of Nazareth. " And I beheld, and, lo, a great multi- 
tude, which no man could number, standing before the 
throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, 
and with palms in their hands. And one of the elders 
said unto me, Who are these which are arrayed in white 
robes ? and whence came they ? And I said unto him, 
Sir, thou knowest. And he said, These are they which 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
Therefore are they before the throne; and they shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall 
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and 
lead them unto fountains of living waters ; and God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes." 



THE RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 199 

THE 

RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 



" Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, 
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that 
hear shall live." John 5:25. 

Our Lord was no respecter of persons. He came to 
seek and save the lost. He instructed the Rabbi Nicode- 
mus and called into his service the publican Matthew 
from the receipt of customs. The rich and learned have 
souls to be saved. Indeed there is reason to suspect that 
sages and millionaires are spiritually the most neglected 
people on earth. But the Lord went out after them ; and 
he sought the poor and ignorant as well. By the sheep - 
market was the pool of Bethesda, whose porches were 
filled with the blind and withered and halt. He walked 
among them with infinite compassion. There was one 
poor sufferer who had been bound in palsy thirty and 
eight years. Thirty and eight years of pain and weari- 
ness and hoping against hope! And Jesus said to him, 
" Wilt thou be made whole ?" Would he ! " Aye, Mas- 
ter ; but when the waters are troubled I have none to put 
me in." Jesus said, " Arise, and walk." And straightway 
he arose and went his way. It was a blessed deed ; but, 
alas ! it was wrought on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees 
were offended because he had broken one of their most 
stringent laws. He justified himself in these words : 
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." By this 



200 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

they were angered the more, because " He made himself 
equal with God." He went on to show his oneness with 
the Father ; how all his works were by the Father work- 
ing through him. And what were these ? The opening 
of blind eyes, and the wiping away of leprosy and the 
healing of a few paralytics. These were but slight tokens 
of the divine energy as compared with the mighty works 
which were presently to be accomplished by the Father 
working through him. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent 
me hath everlasting life; he shall not come into con- 
demnation, but is passed from death unto life. The hour 
cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of 
the Son of God : and they that hear shall live." 

He was now addressing the Pharisees on their own 
ground. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. 
In this they were at odds with the Sadducees, who re- 
jected all things supernatural. Were not the Scriptures 
full of this glorious doctrine ? Had not the earliest of the 
patriarchs said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in 
my flesh I shall see God " ? Had not David sung, " God 
will redeem my soul from the power of the grave " ? Had 
not other prophets seen wondrous foregleams of it ; as 
when Ezekiel stood in the midst of the valley of vision 
and saw, everywhere, the scattered bones, and, lo, they 
were very dry. And a voice said, " Son of man, can these 
bones live ?" And the prophet answered, " Lord, Thou 
knowest." And the voice said, " Come from the four 
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these men, that they 
may live." And they stood upon their feet, an exceeding 
great army. The Pharisees believed in the Scriptures, 
and, therefore, they believed in the resurrection of the 
dead. 



THE RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 201 

But here was something different. " The hour cometh, 
and now is." The reference is to something which is 
going on here and now — a spiritual resurrection; the 
coming forth out of darkness into light, and out of bond- 
age into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The 
same truth was set forth by our Lord in comforting Mar- 
tha for her brother's death. He said unto her, " Thy 
brother shall rise again." And Martha said, " I know 
that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last 
day." Jesus said, " I am the resurrection and the life ; 
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die." 

I. Sin is death. This is the most dreadful of the many 
figures under which it is represented. It is spoken of as 
bondage ; for he that doeth sin is the servant of it. As 
exile ; the sinner is in the far country, far from home and 
kindred and happiness, wasting his substance in riotous 
living. It is debt; I owe ten thousand talents, and, 
alas ! am bankrupt. We are all alike concluded (i. e. y 
imprisoned) under sin. We are in the debtor's jail, and 
shall not come out thence until we have paid the utmost 
farthing. It is defilement : for in the last reduction — woe 
to us who outwardly seem so clean and wholesome — sin 
is filth, a foul disease that robs us of our self-respect and 
makes us unpresentable before God and men : as it is 
written, " From the crown of the head unto the soles of 
the feet, there is no soundness, but wounds and bruises 
and putrefying sores." 

But, worst of all, sin is spiritual death. Not that the 
sinner has no semblance of life, but all the faculties and 
powers of his higher nature have lost their vigor. He 
has a name to live, but is dead. An ice-floe drifted from 



202 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

the delta of the river Lena, on the northern coast of Si- 
beria, clear across into Davis Strait. On this ice-floe was 
the body of one of the crew of the ill-fated Jeannette. If 
this man had come by the shortest route he had made a 
journey of three thousand five hundred miles ; if by the 
longest, almost seven thousand. A long journey for a 
dead man ! Yet there are men all around us, dead as to 
their higher natures, performing all the functions of com- 
mon life. They toil in our workshops and offices ; they 
eat, drink, marry, and are given in marriage ; they ac- 
cumulate wealth, sit in places of authority, and yet are 
dead in trespasses and sins. This is not a mere figure. 
The death of the spiritual nature, in such cases, is awfully 
real; and, unless there be a real resurrection, the end 
must be eternal death. 

II. Salvation is renewal of life. " I am come," said 
Jesus, " that ye might have life, and that ye might have it 
more abundantly." At his touch the soul is quickened 
from the dead. He who stood at the grave of Lazarus, 
and said " Come forth !" with such power that the 
shrouded dead arose, is able in like manner to restore 
those who are under the mortal sentence of the broken 
law. Was it wonderful that Lazarus should come forth ? 
It is far more wonderful that the word of Jesus Christ 
should have power to restore the functions of a soul 
buried in spiritual darkness. 

i. The eyes of the soul are opened at his touch. It is 
a sore calamity to be blind in this beautiful world of ours. 
A child who was thus afflicted from her birth was healed 
by a surgical operation. The time came for the removal 
of the bandage from her eyes. She was taken out upon 
the piazza of the summer home and her newly-opened 
eyes fell upon the meadow and the hillsides and the skies 



THE RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 203 

above; then she said, " Oh, mother! is this heaven ?" 
To many a soul a like revelation of moral beauty has 
come when, at the touch of Jesus, sight has been restored, 
and God and life and immortality and all the glorious 
truths have come into view. Spiritual things are spirit- 
ually discerned. They are nothing to the natural man. 
He is concerned about food and raiment and wealth and 
honor and pleasure; but the real things of eternity are 
practically unknown to him till Christ says, " Receive 
thy sight." Then all heaven bursts upon his vision, and 
he can say, of a truth, " Whereas I was blind, now I 
see." 

2. At the touch of Jesus our ears are unsealed. To 
be physically deaf is a great misfortune. The entire 
range of hearing is only seven octaves. If a sound does 
not make more than forty or less than four thousand 
vibrations to the second we cannot hear it. The infinite 
range outside of that narrow limit is all beyond our 
sphere. I know a man who has never heard the song of 
a bird, and who is, therefore, skeptical as to the sweet 
descant of the nightingale's voice. To him the music of 
the feathered songsters is, like the " music of the spheres," 
a mere fable. How much of life's pleasure is unknown to 
him! But the spiritual deafness of the spiritually dead is 
absolute. The Apostle says there are so many voices in 
the world, and none of them is without signification. God 
is ever speaking to the soul, the song of angels is all 
about us, the great multitude of the redeemed are tes- 
tifying to the divine goodness. All this is outside the 
aural range of those who are dead in trespasses. But 
when the Lord comes, and utters the magic word Eph~ 
phatha, the ears are unstopped, and the great truths come 
home with unspeakable sweetness to the soul. The 



204 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

things that made no impression are now of the utmost 
moment. God's promises and warnings, his sweet assur- 
ance of forgiveness, the confidences of Christian fellow- 
ship, the anthems of the redeemed in glory, are as real to 
the redeemed soul as the rippling of the brook or the roll 
of thunder to the natural man. 

3. The life-giving touch of Jesus quickens the spirit- 
ual appetite. A man said to me recently, " I have n't 
been hungry for two years." There are people of this 
sort who are taking tonics all the while to stimulate their 
desire for the good things of life ; a considerable portion 
of the zest of living is lost to them. But there are other 
multitudes who have no appetite for the great truths of 
the spiritual realm. The old-fashioned Book which is 
meat and drink to God's children has no attraction for 
them. The hymns of the sanctuary, " Jesus, Lover of my 
soul," " Nearer, my God, to thee," f( O mother dear, 
Jerusalem," have no melody for them. They care not 
for the hopes and aspirations which are dear to the 
Christian as the throbbing of his heart. Desire has failed. 
Who shall quicken it ? God alone. Out in the wilder- 
ness, hunted like a partridge among the mountains, David 
was moved with longing for the blessed things of the king- 
dom. He saw a wounded deer bounding through the 
forest, an arrow quivering in its flank, its eyes hot with 
fever, hastening towards the fountain. " As the hart pant- 
eth after the water-brooks," cried the Psalmist, "so pant- 
eth my soul after thee, O God ! My soul thirsteth for 
God, for the living God : when shall I come and appear 
before God ?" Thus are the deep longings of the soul 
quickened in divine communion. Alas ! for those who 
have no hunger for the living bread ! Alas ! for those 
who thirst not for water out of the deep wells of salva- 



THE RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 205 

tion ! There is no sweeter beatitude than this, " Blessed 
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
they shall be filled." They shall be satisfied with grapes 
and pomegranates from the King's garden. They shall 
quench their longing with water out of the King's 
well. 

4. In this spiritual resurrection the conscience is vivi- 
fied. It was God's purpose that our consciences should 

point us along the way to the endless life, but by persist- 
ence in sin they are seared as with a hot iron. They refuse 
to perform their functions. The needle in the compass is 
rusted fast. The man congratulates himself that he can 
sin without scruple ; he can go on in an evil course with- 
out compunction. This means that his moral sense is 
struck with death. In its awaking — for it must awake 
sooner or later — are the possibilities of eternal pain or 
rapture. The Emperor Constance with an untrembling 
hand put his brother Theodosius to death, but in his 
exile the wraith followed him wherever he went, holding 
up to him a cup of red warm blood, saying, " Drink, bro- 
ther, drink !" Alas ! for him whose conscience awakes 
thus under the awful touch of remorse ; but blessed is the 
man whose conscience springs to life at the word of Jesus. 
A quick conscience is a finger-board pointing to heaven's 
gate. 

5. The will is energized at the life-giving word of 
Jesus. The will is the centre of our moral nature. It is 
paralyzed by sin. The good that I would, I do not ; and 
the evil that I would not, that I do. The beginning of 
spiritual life is when the will is moved towards truth and 
goodness. Out in the far country the prodigal in the 
swine field, ragged and famishing, saw visions of plenty 
in his father's house, and he said, " I will arise and go." 



206 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

That was the beginning of life. The moment of conver- 
sion is when the soul, in answer to the divine summons, 
responds, " I will." Then begins the endless struggle, the 
beating down of old sins and passions and appetites. 
Then begins the work of the kingdom ; for whereas the 
man who is spiritually dead has no concern for the build- 
ing up of truth and righteousness on earth, the quickened 
soul is eager to answer the Lord's injunction, " Go, work 
in my vineyard." Thenceforth his highest aspiration is 
to make life tell, not for self- advancement, but for the 
glory of God. 

An old-time Quaker preacher had a strange expe- 
rience at his conversion. He fell asleep and dreamed. 
He seemed to be dead, and laid out for his burial, when a 
shining one came and bent over him, saying softly, " The 
man is dead." Then another came and laid a hand over 
his heart, and said, "It does not throb; he's dead." 
Then another came and laid a hand upon his flesh, say- 
ing, " It is cold ; he is surely dead." So one by one 
came angels and stood around his couch, till one kindlier 
than all the rest came and looked upon him, lifted his 
hand, and said, " Nay, what is this ? A nail print in his 
palm, and a nail print in his other palm. This man is not 
dead ; he has been crucified ! He has been crucified with 
Christ and lives with him !" Then the man awoke and 
found the place in the Scripture where it is written, " I am 
crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, Christ 
liveth in me." The secret of spiritual life is indeed to enter 
into fellowship with the death of Jesus. We begin to live 
when we stand under his cross and feel one drop of his 
warm blood falling upon us. " The life is in the blood." 
The life of every son of man is in the blood of the only- 
begotten Son of God. To believe in him is to come forth 



THE RESURRECTION HERE AND NOW. 207 

out of the sepulchre into the world of beauty and glad- 
ness. Oh that we might all know the power of his death, 
that we might also be partakers of the power of his life ! 
Oh that we all might be able to say in truth and sincerity, 
" I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not 
I, Christ liveth in me !" 



208 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 



" And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from 
him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to 
crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of 
Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear the 
cross." Matt. 27:31, 32. 

"And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming 
out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear 
his cross." Mark 15:21. 

" Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine." 
Rom. 16:13.* 

It was the time of the Passover. The city was crowded 
with strangers who had come up from every part of Jewry 
to celebrate the feast. The homes of Jerusalem were 
thrown open. The hillsides round about were dotted with 
tents and leafy booths. The neighboring villages were 
crowded with pilgrims, who every morning betook them- 
selves to the city that they might join in the temple ser- 
vice. 

A Jew from Cyrene, in Northern Africa, was thus so- 
journing in one of the suburban hamlets. He had heard 
much of the Nazarene prophet, and, being a man of frank 
and open nature, he was in a position to discuss without 
prejudice the claim that He was the long-looked-for Mes- 
siah. On the successive days of this festival he had taken 
occasion to hear the Nazarene, and was struck with his 
bold and clear expositions of spiritual truth. He had 

* These passages contain all that is definitely known of Simon of 
Cyrene. There are traditions, more or less trustworthy, which ena- 
ble us, with some use of the imagination, to complete the story of his 
life. 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 209 

been present in the temple on Tuesday of this Passover- 
week when Jesus had driven out the money-changers, 
and had witnessed the healing of the sick and the open- 
ing of blind eyes. He had discussed these things with 
his fellow-countrymen in the synagogue of the Cyreni- 
ans, which was their resort during the feast. So ear- 
nestly had he insisted upon a fair discussion of the claims 
of Jesus that he was known among them as a friend of 
the Nazarene. This was by no means true. He was, 
however, earnestly debating in his own mind whether 
this Jesus of Nazareth was not proving himself to be the 
expected Christ. 

This was the state of affairs when, on the morning of 
April 7th, he set out from the village to go to Jerusalem. 
The night before, he had read, according to the custom, 
the story of the original Passover, and he had lain awake 
meditating on the events of that dreadful night. As in a 
dream he saw his fathers standing with the loins girt and 
staff in hand. He saw the sacrifice in every home, the 
blood upon the lintels of the doors. He heard the cry of 
sorrow, when all Egypt bewailed the firstborn. And then 
he saw the pilgrims go forth out of bondage, with faces set 
towards the promised land. It seemed to him like the 
foreshadowing of some greater deliverance to come. Why 
should the sacrifice be slain every year ? Why should the 
blood be sprinkled, unless for the setting forth of some 
spiritual truth ? Were they right who believed that all 
this was predictive of the coming One, in whom all sac- 
rifices were to find their ultimate fulfillment and by the 
shedding of whose blood should come the remission for 
the people's sins ? 

As he pursued his way towards the city, still engaged 
in these reflections, his attention was arrested by the 

Religion of the Future. \A 



2IO THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

sound as of a turbulent multitude, the trampling of many 
feet, and confused cries. Now he heard more clear- 
ly. "Crucify him!" they shouted; " Away with him!" 
" Away with him !" He saw a great company issu- 
ing from the city gate. In front rode a centurion, fol- 
lowed by a detachment of Roman guards. Then came 
three malefactors bearing crosses, each guarded by a 
quaternion of soldiers. Two of these prisoners he recog- 
nized as well-known criminals who had long been await- 
ing death ; but the third ! Could this be the Nazarene ? 
He was covered with dust and stained with blood, hag- 
gard from a long night of derision and suffering ; from his 
neck hung a titulum on which was written, Jesu Nazaret, 
rex Jud&orurn. While the Cyrenian stood gazing, this 
prisoner staggered and fell beneath his load. In vain he 
struggled to rise. The soldiers in charge were impatient 
to be on their way. 

At this moment the eyes of someone who had met 
Simon in the synagogue fell upon him, and a cry was 
raised, " A friend of the Nazarene ! Lay the cross upon 
him !" The Romans were but too willing. A dog of a 
Jew, a foreigner, and a friend of the Nazarene ! Enough. 
They seized upon him. His struggles were in vain ; the 
heavy beams were laid upon his shoulders, and forward 
they pressed. The heart of Simon was filled with bitter- 
ness under this injustice; but, as they were hurried on 
amid the cries of the mob, he observed the patient Suf- 
ferer at his side, and his spirit was calmed within him. 
There was no opportunity for words ; but he saw upon 
the face of the Nazarene a look of tender regard and 
solicitude which strangely touched him. The heavy 
burden now seemed light. Was he not bearing it for 
Him? 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 211 

It struck him as surprising that, amid all this multi- 
tude, there were none who seemed to sympathize with 
Jesus. Where were his friends ? his disciples ? Where 
were the blind whose eyes he had opened ? By the way- 
side, yonder, as they passed, a group of women, beating 
on their breasts, gave way to bitter cries and lamenta- 
tions. He turned, with a look full of prophetic vision, and 
said, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for 
yourselves and for your children. The hour of ca- 
lamity cometh, when Jerusalem shall go down in fire and 
blood." Oh, had they but known ! Crosses were pres- 
ently to stand all around this circle of surrounding 
hills ! 

On went the surging crowd, breaking forth in shouts 
of cruel mockery. Even the malefactors at his side de- 
rided him, saying, " Thou the Christ! The Messiah of 
Israel !" Simon held his peace. But slowly it came to 
him that here might be something more than human 
patience. His heart was filled with a great sorrow for 
this poor sufferer left to tread the wine-press of his shame 
and anguish all alone. Might it be that, under this guise 
of humility, the promised One of God was going to his 
sacrifice? Might it be that all the shadows of the Old 
Economy were to be fulfilled on this day of the Passover? 
On they went ; along the way which henceforth would be 
known by reason of this sad journey as Via Dolorosa ; 
on toward the place of execution. They reached the 
rounded knoll, and Simon awoke from his wondering as 
the cross was lifted from his shoulders and placed upon 
the earth. By order of the centurion the prisoner, unre- 
sisting, lay down upon it. A rough soldier stood forth, 
hammer in hand ; another held a nail above the open 
palm ; at the word the hammer fell ; a look of anguish 



212 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

fell over the face of the Nazarene ; a low cry escaped him : 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !" 
The man of Cyrene in that moment felt the conflicting 
torrents of doubt and conviction surging through his 
brain. He could bear no more, but, no one hindering, 
turned and fled — fled to a solitary place on a neighboring 
hill, where he fell down upon his face and agonized 
in prayer : " Oh, God of my fathers, give me to see the 
truth !" 

How long he lay there he knew not, but when he 
arose darkness had enveloped him. In the distance he 
saw three crosses outlined against the twilight sky. He 
turned and made his way homeward. All that night he 
sat poring over a parchment scroll. He read again the 
story of the Passover. He searched out the Messianic 
prophecies. At length he came to the place where it 
was written : " For he shall grow up before him as a ten- 
der plant, and as a root out of a dry ground ; he hath no 
form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see him, there is 
no beauty that we shall desire him. He is despised and 
rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief : and we hid as it were our faces from him ; he was 
despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne 
our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; yet we did esteem 
him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was 
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; 
a?id with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have 
gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us ally And 
in that moment it flashed upon him. The prophecy was 
clear as day. The man who had gone so unresistingly to 
Golgotha was the Passover Lamb, of whom it was writ- 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 21 3 

ten : " He shall be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as 
a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his 
mouth." This was the voice of the blood flowing over 
the altars of the olden time. This was the voice of the 
blood sprinkled upon the lintels of the doors. He fell 
upon his knees in gratitude, murmuring, "Thou hast laid 
on him the iniquities of us all." 

* * * * The years passed. Simon grew old and died 
in the triumphant hope of the Gospel. In his native city- 
was a Christian church. His wife still lived there, a 
sweet-spirited woman whose heart was love and whose 
hands were ministries of mercy. Of his two sons, Alex- 
ander had met a martyr's death, but Rufus was the 
devoted pastor of the church. The people of Cyrene 
were wont to speak gratefully of Simon's faith and cour- 
age and charity. His name was held in fragrant remem- 
brance. His memory was a benediction upon all who 
had known him. 

Is there anything for us in the brief story of this un- 
eventful life ? 

I. There is great virtue in walking with Jesus, and all 
the more if we walk with him towards Golgotha. Com- 
munion is a magic word. There never was a voice like 
that of Jesus. There never was a touch like his. The 
hem of his garment has healing virtue in it. If he talk 
with us as we journey our hearts burn within us ; but if 
he hold his peace, and utter not a word, yet is there a 
great blessing in being with him. To walk with Jesus is 
the secret of a holy, happy life. 

II. There is a double virtue in suffering for him. As 
the Cyrenian bore that cross it must have brought a 
feeling of submission — nay, we want a stronger word — of 
joyous acquiescence to reflect that it was Jesus' cross that 



214 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

he bore. His pain must have become as sweet as pleas- 
ure for Jesus* sake. A great multitude have, for their 
loyalty to the gospel and to the name of Jesus, faced the 
pointed finger and the gleaming sword, and these are 
they who, coming up out of the great tribulation, stand 
nearest to the throne in heaven ; and they have palms in 
their hands ; and they sing, " Blessing, and glory, and 
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and 
might, be unto our God forever and ever." And for 
their shame they have a thousandfold of honor, and for 
their suffering they are led to living fountains of waters. 
Here is a great promise : " Blessed are ye when men 
shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all man- 
ner of evil against you falsely, for my sake and the gos- 
pel, for great is your reward in heaven." In heaven? 
Aye, and here as well. 

III. But the highest honor of all, the service chevron, 
is in the bearing of his cross. This is more than mere 
suffering with him. The cross of Jesus stands for a 
work voluntarily taken up for the sake of a sin-stricken 
world. To bear the cross is to enter into fellowship with 
Christ in this great work. To bear the cross is to 
help our Master deliver the world from sin. Oh ! there 
is no joy like that. Nor is there any reward in heaven 
like that which awaits the cross-bearer, for "they that 
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and 
they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever 
and ever." 

There was another Simon who for his devotion to the 
great fundamental truths of the gospel was called Petros — 
a rock. It is told of him that, in his later years, he fled 
from a persecution which had broken out in the city ol 
Rome. Not far beyond the walls he met one coming, 



SIMON OF CYRENE. 215 

whom he recognized, by the signs of suffering still upon 
him, as his divine Lord. " Master, whither goest thou ?" 
he cried. The answer was, " I go to Rome to be cruci- 
fied again." " Nay, Lord," said Peter, " I will return." 
A church stands to-day on that traditional spot, called 
Domine, quo vadis ? It stands as a reproach to those 
who turn their backs on Christian service. It is a true 
saying, " The servant is not greater than his lord." " If 
any man will come after me let him deny himself, and 
take up his cross daily, and follow me." 



2l6 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



ASSURANCE. 



" Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." 
2 Peter i : 10. 

All the elaborate treatises which were ever written 
on the doctrine of Election have not served to clarify it. 
It has pleased God to reserve this as one of his state 
secrets. A stoic of the olden time used to go about 
holding something in his left hand covered with a napkin. 
Many curious glances were cast upon it, and when some 
Paul Pry was bold enough to inquire, " What hast thou ?" 
the philosopher replied, " Hence the napkin." So with 
respect to this divine mystery. No doubt God could 
have made it perfectly clear, but for some good reason 
he has chosen otherwise. To seek a solution of the 
difficulty is to have our labor for our pains. 

We know that Election is a fact. " Whom he did 
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the 
image of his Son ; and whom he did predestinate, them 
he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justi- 
fied ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." It 
is inconceivable that God has not always foreknown the 
names of the redeemed. They are said to be written of 
his Book of Life ; but the book is sealed with seven seals 
and One only has been found worthy to open it. 

The practical side of this doctrine lies in the fact in 
personal assurance. We may know whether our names 
are written in the Book of Life or not. It is not said 
that all true believers have this certainty, but only that 



ASSURANCE. 217 

they may have it. A multitude of us feeble folk are 
vexed with questionings : 

" 'Tis a point I long to know, 

Oft it causes anxious thought : 
Do I love the Lord or no ? 
Am I his or am I not ?" 

How may we arrive at assurance ? By the mouth of 
three witnesses it shall be established. 

I. The witness of the Spirit. " The Spirit beareth 
witness with our spirits that we are the children of God : 
and if children, then heirs : heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
with Christ/' 

A witness in an earthly court is not permitted to tes- 
tify as to mere hearsay, nor can he advance a personal 
opinion ; he does not guess or speculate ; he is not like a 
mathematician who has a matter in hand in process of 
solution ; he testifies as to facts alone. So here. The 
Holy Ghost appears as a witness, as one who has looked 
into the Book of Life and is prepared to say, Your name 
is there. 

Why should not the Spirit thus testify in the soul of 
the believer ? Did not Jesus give assurance, again and 
again, to those who sought him in spiritual trouble? 
Did he not say to the paralytic who was let down from 
the house-top into the midst of the company, " Be of 
good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee " ? Did he not say 
to the poor creature who, weary of her sinful life, sought 
him as he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house and 
anointed his feet with precious nard, " Daughter, go in 
peace; thy sins, which are many, are forgiven thee"? 
And when the thief upon the cross, after a life spent in 
ill-doing, besought him, "Lord, remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom," did he not answer, " To-day 



218 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

thou shalt be with me in Paradise " ? When Jesus 
ascended into the heavens he left his work in the hands 
of the Holy Spirit, who is to carry it on to its ultimate 
consummation. We may reasonably assume, then, that 
the Spirit also stands ready to speak the blessed word of 
assurance to those who are fit and willing to receive it. 

At the time when Wesley was preaching in Georgia 
he was approached by a Moravian pastor, named Spang- 
enberg, who asked him if he had the witness of the 
Spirit. Wesley was surprised and nonplussed. " Do 
you know," asked Spangenberg, " that Jesus is your 
Saviour?" "Aye, I know that he is the Saviour of the 
world ; that he tasted death for all." " But do you know 
that he is your Saviour? that your sins are washed 
away? that your name is written in the Book of Life?" 
"I hope so." "But do you know so?" Wesley was 
troubled. He endeavored to solve the difficulty in 
prayer. He put away all things that seemed to stand 
between himself and God. He listened until the still 
small voice came, and then he wrote : 

" The Spirit answers to the blood, 
And tells me I am born of God." 

But may there not be some mistake as to the voice ? 
May we not be deceived by our emotions ? Is there no 
way in which we can verify the testimony of the Spirit? 

II. The witness of the Word, As the Scriptures are 
the court of last appeal in all questions of faith and con- 
duct, so are they in respect to the genuineness of all 
Christian experience. A peace which rests on sentiment 
alone is of no value. Tears and hosannahs can scarcely 
be placed in evidence. To the law and the testimony 
therefore. What saith the Scripture ? 



ASSURANCE. 2ig 

If a twelve-inch plank be laid along the pavement 
from one side of the street to the other a child may walk 
upon it without a tremor and with no fear of falling off; 
but if it be laid from the top of one high building to an- 
other on the opposite side there are not many of us who 
would undertake to keep our balance while walking over it. 
There is nothing underneath it, and away goes our confi- 
dence. So of our Christian hope ; it must rest on some- 
thing that we can see with our eyes and handle with our 
hands. We must somehow get it on terra firma. And 
the Scriptures are terra Jirma for us. In this blessed vol- 
ume there are many touchstones by which we can attest 
our assurance of salvation. Here is one : He that believ- 
eth on the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth 
not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abid- 
eth on him. Do we believe on Jesus Christ? Have we 
taken hold of his atoning work with the appropriating 
hand of faith, so that we can say, My Lord and my God ? 
Here is another : Verily \ verily, I say unto thee, Except a 
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
To be born again is to enter into newness of life. Old 
things have passed away ; behold, all things are new — new 
hopes, new purposes, new ambitions and aspirations. We 
live now in a new atmosphere and can scarcely fail to per- 
ceive it. In the famous Tichborne case, the reason why 
the claimant failed to get possession of the great estate 
was not because of any specific evidence, but rather be- 
cause the whole demeanor of the man showed that he was 
not of noble blood. Here is another of the touchstones : 
Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. 
And again : Hereby we know that we love him, if we keep 
his commandments. For Jesus is not only our Saviour, but 
our Lord. To acknowledge his redemptive grace and 



220 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

deny his sovereignty is to lean upon a broken reed. Here 
is another : We know that we have passed from death u?tto 
life, because we love the brethren. The fellowship of God's 
people is a spiritual kinship. We have received the Spirit 
of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father ;" so that, 
being sons and daughters in his household, our relations 
are of the closest sort. Here is another : If any man will 
come after me, let him deny himself, and let him take up 
his cross and follow me. The Crusaders wore the red 
cross on their arms ; but a true believer wears it on his 
heart and bears it on his shoulders. He cheerfully takes 
part with his divine Lord in the great work of delivering 
the world from sin. Here is another : Go, sell all that 
thou hast, and come and follow me. The young ruler to 
whom these words were addressed was suffering his wealth 
to stand between him and the better life. A true be- 
liever makes a surrender of all; that is, he holds all other 
considerations to be secondary to the service of Jesus 
Christ. Here is another: Whosoever is born of God 
doth not commit sin. Not that the Christian is perfect, 
but he does not persist in any evil habit. He may be 
betrayed into wrong-doing, but no sooner does he know 
his error than he repents and turns his back upon it. He 
does not keep the golden wedge in his tent. Here is 
another : As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
are the sons of God. To be led by the Spirit is to fol- 
low on in the paths of holy character. For the fruit of 
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. And here is 
yet another : Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? It is 
a true saying, " Love is the fulfilling of the law." A child 
knows whether it loves its mother. Why shall not a 
Christian know if he loves the Saviour who has redeemed 



ASSURANCE. 221 

him? And this is a crucial test: if the believer can say 
thrice over, and with all his heart, " Yea, Lord, thou know- 
est that I love thee/' all is well. 

So, then, we need not go on singing 

1 1 When I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies 
I '11 bid farewell to every fear, 
And wipe my weeping eyes." 

If I suspect the validity of my title to a piece of property 
I do not fret and worry about it, but go straightway to an 
abstract office and say, " Look into this matter. See if this 
title is clouded. Find out all liens and incumbrances of 
every sort. Look well to the character of every transfer 
and conveyance involved." And when the title is thus ap- 
proved I rest upon it. The blessed Book is our abstract 
office, and its judgment is final. 

But, to make assurance doubly sure, we have still an- 
other witness. A threefold cord is not easily broken. 

III. The witness of faith. For in the last reduction 
there is no assurance but the assurance of faith. " Thou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on 
thee, because he trusteth in thee." There are times when 
self-examination is profitable ; but too much self-examina- 
tion is sure to make us restless and unbelieving. Look 
out and not in. Look up and not down. The secret of 
a happy Christian life is to trust God. 

Faith shows itself in two ways — in work and in rest. 

i . In work. Once having surrendered ourselves to the 
Lord Jesus we have better business in hand than intro- 
spection. Go ye also into the vineyard ; there is work to 
do. Paul is the apostle of assurance. " I know whom I 
have believed," said he, " and that he is able to keep that 
which I have committed unto him." How calm and 



222 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

tranquil the spirit that could utter those words on the 
very brink of death ! For he was an old and feeble man, 
a prisoner awaiting the executioner ; and yet, with eyes 
that neither age nor tears could dim, he saw through the 
darkness a kingdom, a blood-washed robe and a crown 
of righteousness. His faith was like an oak, rooted more 
deeply by the tempest that swept over it. Let us ask 
him the secret of his faith. " Time was," he answers, 
" when my heart was filled with the splendid hopes of 
youth. The world was before me. I sat at Gamaliel's 
feet and thought of wisdom as the chief thing. All the 
future was bright with promise ; but on that memorable 
day when the light from heaven shone upon me a word 
was spoken that transformed my life. ' Who art thou ?' 
1 1 am Jesus/ The world thenceforth was a new world 
to me and life was new ; for me to live was Christ. His 
love constrained me. I determined I would know nothing 
but Christ, and him crucified. I turned from my pleasures 
and ambitions, and entered upon a service which promised 
naught but toil and self-denial. My new Master told me 
at the outset that a battle must be fought, a race must be 
run, and I have found it so. But he said also, ' My grace 
is sufficient for thee.' And now, blessed be his name ! I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 
have kept the faith, and I am waiting for a crown which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me. The con- 
fused noises of battle will soon be over. I bear in my 
body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I am old and weary 
and wounded, but victorious ! It will be joy unspeakable 
to hear him say, ' Well done, good servant/ Am I not 
afraid ? Nay, I am ready to be offered. Do I not fear 
the darkness after death ? It is bright with stars of prom- 
ise. And how have I attained unto this assurance ? By 



ASSURANCE. 223 

leaning on the Beloved. His word has been true and 
faithful. I know whom I have believed, and that he is 
able to keep that which I have committed unto him." 

2. Faith also expresses itself in rest. If we appre- 
hend Christ we shall not distrust him. If we have really 
given ourselves to him we shall without misgiving trust 
our destiny in his hands. Let us cease fretting and wor- 
rying. Salvation is of the Lord. 

I have a friend who, last summer, at the seashore, made 
a vain effort to save a drowning woman. He struck out 
after her beyond the white line of surf, and being a brave 
swimmer he reached her. She frantically threw her arms 
about his neck. He tore them off. She clutched his 
hair. He broke loose, and was obliged to leave her to her 
fate. " I could have saved her, but she struggled so." 
We are in the hands of the mighty One. All that we can 
do towards our own deliverance is to rest in his hands. 
No soul was ever lost that trusted in Him. 

Christian, who set out from the city of Destruction, 
came at last through all his difficulties to the house Beau- 
tiful, and there he was assigned to a chamber called 
Peace. In the morning early he awoke and looked out 
upon the Delectable Mountains. And then he sang : 

4< Where am I now ? Is this the love and care 
Of Jesus for the men who pilgrims are : 
Thus to provide that I should be forgiven, 
And dwell already the next door to heaven I" 

God has a place for us all in the chamber called Peace. 
" Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid/ 



224 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

WOE TO ARIEL. 



" Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt ! Add ye year to 
year ; let them kill sacrifices ; yet I will distress Ariel, and 
there shall be heaviness and sorrow : and it shall be unto me 
as Ariel. And I will camp against thee roundabout, and will lay 
siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against 
thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of 
the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy 
voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the 
ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." Isaiah 
29:1-4. 

This meant that Jerusalem was to be overthrown. 
How improbable it seemed ! The city was at the very 
summit of its prosperity. Let the years pass until the 
fulness of time ; let the sheep and bullocks compass the 
altar; when the shrill blast of the angel of retribution is 
heard Jerusalem shall be brought low ; the owl and the 
bittern shall make their home in her palaces ; out of the 
silence and desolation let Ariel speak to the coming ages. 

The year 70 of the Christian Era will be memorable 
until the end of time, for then Jerusalem was overthrown. 
At the beginning of the year, when the Romans laid siege 
to the city, its people were engaged in civil strife. John, 
with a garrison six thousand strong, held the porticos of 
the outer court ; Simon, with ten thousand Jews and five 
thousand Idumaeans, was entrenched on the heights of 
Zion ; Eleazar, with an army of zealots, had possessed 
himself of the temple. The arrows from the enemy's 
camp came whizzing through the air and quivered in the 
cedar posts ; the stones from their catapults fell at the 
feet of the worshippers at the altar ; the space around the 
temple was in ruins. It was at this time that the weird 



WOE TO ARIEL. 225 

prophet spoken of in the chronicles of Josephus went up 
and down crying, " A voice from the east ; a voice from 
the west ; a voice from the four winds of heaven against 
Jerusalem and her people who have sinned against God." 
On April 14th the blast of the Roman trumpets was 
heard in the distance. Titus had come with his Tenth 
Legion and a great body of mercenaries. They wound 
down through the mountains and around the city, enfold- 
ing it as with the coils of a mighty serpent. Then began 
in earnest that famous siege which has scarcely a par- 
allel in history. John, Simon and Eleazar, perceiving 
the need of harmony at this juncture, joined forces and 
made a furious attack on the Tenth Legion. It was by 
the ford of the Kedron, in sight of Olivet where Jesus forty 
years before wept and cried, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
how often would I have gathered you, as a hen doth 
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not !" 
In this battle the Jewish forces were defeated and driven 
back with dreadful loss. Such of their number as fell into 
the hands of the Romans were treated with the utmost 
cruelty. The morning after the battle five hundred crosses 
were reared upon the mountains round about and five 
hundred Jewish captives were seen writhing in agony. 
As the weary weeks passed on, two ghostly figures made 
their appearance : Famine, gaunt and pitiless. Parents 
and children struggled for food ; they stole down at night 
to gather offal from the ravines of Hinnom ; fought for 
the reptiles that crawled out from beneath the walls. 
The soldiers gnawed their belts and sandals. A mob 
broke into the sanctuary and seized upon the show-bread 
and the sacred wine. Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, 
slew her babe for food. Then Pestilence: the dead 
lay unburied in the streets ; the plague-stricken crawled 

Religion of the Future. I ^ 



226 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

into the cemeteries to die; now and then the famish- 
ing soldiers in desperation sallied forth with the cry, 
" The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon !" only to be 
driven back within the walls. 

On July 17th the Roman army made a concerted 
assault on the city. The gates were forced and the gar- 
rison was driven back to the fortress of Antonia. Here 
the conduits for conveying the blood of the sacrifices 
were soon filled with the dead. By this ghastly barricade 
stood the Jews, gaunt, heroic, desperate, defending their 
Zion. At length they were forced into the temple and 
then the temple was taken. The dead lay heaped around 
the altar. Amid cries of " Raze it ! Raze it to the 
earth !" orders were given that the beautiful structure 
should be spared. Too late. A burning brand was 
thrown through the window and the temple was envel- 
oped in flames. It was at this moment, according to a rab- 
binical tradition, that God, departing from his sanctuary, 
turned back and kissed its pillars, moaning, "Alas ! for 
my glory," and in vain did the angels try to console him. 
One after another the great buildings fell into the abyss 
of flame. The mountains round about echoed back the 
shrieks of the wounded and the dying. The golden 
eagles gleamed in the light of the conflagration and the 
standards of Rome were lifted where the Lion of the tribe 
of Judah had marshalled the hosts of God. 

All was over. It is recorded that eleven hundred 
thousand had perished in the calamities of this siege. 
Ninety-seven thousand were carried away into slavery. 
The plow was drawn over the site of Jerusalem ; Mount 
Zion was sown with salt ; the treasures of the magnificent 
city were carried to distant lands. On the arch of Titus, 
reared in commemoration of this Roman victory, may 



WOE TO ARIEL. 227 

still be seen the long procession of prisoners going into 
exile. Here are the sick and aged ; mothers with infants 
tugging at their skirts ; wounded soldiers tearing at their 
bands ; priests and rabbis, with their faces fallen upon 
their breasts, and borne before them, by their captors, the 
seven-branched candle-stick, the censers, and the silver 
trumpets. As we stand by this ancient arch we can al- 
most hear the words of Jeremiah, as he wrung his hands 
and lamented, " Oh that my head were waters, and mine 
eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night 
for the slain of the daughter of my people !" And sadder 
still the words of the Master as, lifting up his eyes, he 
beheld the temple and cried, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
how often would I have gathered you, as a hen doth 
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. 
Behold, your house is left desolate !" 

What says Jerusalem from the dust to us ? 

I. Here is a vindication of God's truth. All these 
calamities had been prophesied with the utmost particu- 
larity. A nation of fierce countenance, swift as the eagle 
flieth, was to come from the north ; the city was to be 
compassed about; trenches were to be digged; sword, 
famine, and pestilence were to let loose their horrors ; the 
dead were to lie unburied in the streets ; the city was to 
be overthrown ; the temple destroyed ; not one stone 
should be left upon another; its altars were to be torn 
down ; the bones of its prophets were to be scattered ; its 
inhabitants were to be led captive ; its ruins were to be 
sown with salt. All these prophecies were fulfilled. 
God's word is "yea" and "amen." 

II. Here is a vindication of God's justice. Be not de- 
ceived, God is not mocked ; whatsoever a man soweth — 
aye, or a nation—that shall he also reap. 



228 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

On the day when Pilate brought forth Jesus unto the 
priests and people, saying, " I find no fault in him at all," 
when he washed his hands in token of his innocency, they 
all cried with one accord, " His blood be on us, and on 
our children." 

i. The Jews have been more widely scattered than 
any nation on earth. The Diaspora is a proverb. The 
wandering Jew burdened with his years and longing for 
release, yet finding no rest for the sole of his foot, is the 
central figure of a great historic parable. The Jew is the 
universal exile. He is to be found in every great metro- 
politan centre from the river unto the ends of the earth. 

2. And wherever the Jews go they are a stigmatized 
race. The very name is a hissing and a by-word. The 
grandest nation in all history as to wealth and intellect, 
with a genealogy reaching back to the infancy of time, 
yet with every man's hand against it. The sins of this 
people have found them out. In the fourth century they 
were expelled from Europe with their ears cut off. In the 
tenth century the Caliphs caused them to be branded on 
the face and driven away to Arabian deserts. They have 
suffered countless and unspeakable spoliations, persecu- 
tions, and massacres. Sir Walter Scott says, " Except the 
flying-fish, no race on earth, in air or in water, has been 
so persecuted." At one time, in the city of York, fifteen 
hundred Jews were shut up in the castle and refused all 
quarter. Frantic with despair they perished by a mutual 
slaughter. Husbands murdered their wives, mothers their 
children. Did not their death- cries seem to echo those 
words, " His blood be on us, and on our children after 
us"? 

3. But the worst calamity that has fallen upon Israel 
has been judicial blindness. To-day every civilized nation 



WOE TO ARIEL. 22g 

has accepted Jesus. The Jews alone reject him. Was it 
not written, " The Lord shall smite thee with blindness 
and astonishment, and thou shalt grope at noon-day as 
the blind gropeth in darkness " ? I was once greatly per- 
plexed by a service which I attended in the great syna- 
gogue at Rotterdam. The place was thronged with wor- 
shippers. The lights were unkindled, except a candle here 
and there, just enough to make the darkness visible. The 
high priest chanted the service in a melancholy voice. I 
felt as if in a mummy crypt. What could this mean ? All 
at once the character of the service changed. The lights 
in the great chandeliers were kindled; the worshippers 
produced tapers, lighted them, and held them aloft ; the 
priest had risen and was reciting in a gladsome voice, the 
men responding, " Hosannah ! hosannah !" On inquiry I 
learned afterwards that this service was commemorative 
of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the captivity of its 
people. And the kindling of the lights meant that Mes- 
siah was to come. Oh, when will the hoodwink be taken 
from Israeli eyes ? When shall they see that Jesus is 
the Christ ? 

III. We note here also a vindication of the divine 
mercy. When Moses desired to behold the divine glory 
the answer was, " I will make my goodness to pass before 
thee ; I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee ; 
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious ; and I 
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." The 
subsequent history of Israel was a continual display of 
God's lovingkindness. " He hath not dealt so with any 
people." 

Observe (i) how faithfully he admonished them : as it 
is written, " He rose up early " to warn them of the com- 
ing danger. He sent his prophets to cry, " Why will ye 



230 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

be stricken any more ? Cease to do evil, learn to do well. 
Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die ?" 

Observe (2) how wondrously his providence has been 
round about this nation since the day of its calamity. It 
was God's purpose from the beginning that Israel should 
remain a peculiar people. All the migrations that have 
gone out successively from the older countries have min- 
gled their blood with other nations, and so lost their iden- 
tity. The Jews alone, wandering hither and yon for 
nearly two thousand years, have preserved their distinct- 
ive character — their cast ol countenance, their hurried 
gait, their commercial instincts, their habits of life. They 
have been in history like the Gulf Stream, that, rising in 
the Southern Atlantic, courses northward until it empties 
into the Arctic seas, all the way flowing between banks of 
cold water, yet keeping itself apart, a volume a thousand 
times larger than the Amazon and of swiftest current, 
bearing with it the genial influence of the South to tem- 
per the climates of Western Europe, so that Ireland, 
though in the same latitude as Labrador, is a very garden 
of bloom and verdure. Thus God has kept the Jewish 
nation through the centuries a distinct people, loyal to its 
monotheistic traditions, inadvertently preparing the way 
for the gospel by teaching the worship of the one true 
God. 

Observe (3) the unfulfilled prophecies respecting the 
restoration of Israel. There is to be a home-bringing. 
A literal restoration ? The estate of Sir Moses Montefi- 
ore owns two-thirds of Palestine. It is scarcely to be 
supposed, however, that the scattered multitudes of Israel 
are to be brought back again to that little country by the 
Mediterranean Sea. There is, however, to be a spiritual 
restoration. Their eyes are to behold the Messiah. 



WOE TO ARIEL. 23 1 

Those who cried, " Crucify him ! crucify him !" shall yet 
greet him with acclamations, " Blessed is he that cometh 
in the name of the Lord !" Then shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written, " Thou shalt no more be termed 
Forsaken, nor thy land Desolate, but thou shalt be called 
Hephzibah, (that is, my Delight,) and thy land shall be 
called Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee." 

The practical lessons for us are (1) God is true. " If 
ye seek me I will be found of you ; but if ye forsake me I 
will cast you off." In saying these things the Lord is not 
making a mere play on words ; he means them. (2) God 
is just. We are the children of peculiar privilege. We 
learned the gospel long ago at our mothers' knees. We 
heard it from the lips of the village preacher. We have 
lived in its atmosphere through all our years. Alas ! it is 
a true saying, "Anear the kirk, afar frae God." We have 
received much, and much shall be required of us. " O 
foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should 
not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath 
been evidently set forth, crucified among you ?" (3) God 
is merciful. His hands are stretched out still. Out of 
the story of Israel comes the far-away voice of the Mas- 
ter, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have 
gathered you, as a hen doth gather her brood, and ye 
would not !" And all along the story of Jewish history 
the prophet seems saying, " Seek ye the Lord while he 
may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the 
wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous manr his 
thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and he will 
have mercy upon him ; and unto our God, for he will 
abundantly pardon." 



232 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



A TEXT OF WONDERS. 



" Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, 
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 
and he with me." Rev. 3:20. 

In one of Holman Hunt's pictures a kingly personage 
is represented as standing with lamp in hand, under a 
midnight sky, at the gate of a walled inclosure. He has 
waited long and patiently. The gate is barred, and over 
it are grown wild vines and brambles, showing how reso- 
lutely it has been closed against him. Underneath the 
picture are these words : " Behold, I stand at the door, 
and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and 
he with me." 

Here is a text of wonders. This is the force of the 
word " behold." It calls our attention to a series of start- 
ling facts. 

First Wonder: " /stand and knock." The speaker is 
he of whom it was recorded in prophecy, " his name 
shall be called Wonderful." He is wonderful in his per- 
son ; for, being very God of very God, he is also very 
man of very man. Wonderful in his character also ; the 
only being on earth of whom it could be said there was 
" no guile in his heart, no guile on his lips." Wonder- 
ful in his life : his whole biography being comprehended 
in those words, " he went about doing good." Wonder- 
ful in his death; for in his death he bears the sins of 
many and by his stripes we are healed. Wonderful in his 
triumph over death ; for in his resurrection life and im- 



A TEXT OF WONDERS. 233 

mortality are brought to light. And most wonderful of 
all has been his life after death. In Dore's picture of 
Christ leaving the Praetorium you have observed how he 
walks alone. His face is marked with the weariness of a 
long night of shame and scourging, yet he bears himself 
with a divine dignity, and all stand back for him. The 
air is rent with shouts of " Crucify him !" "Away with him !" 
yet priests, rulers and enraged people all stand aside as 
if overawed. So has Jesus come down through the cen- 
turies. Kings and potentates, great teachers and philoso- 
phers, have acknowledged his solitary grandeur. And 
this is he, who, crowned with the homage of friends and 
foes alike, stands waiting at our door. 

Of all the miracles of Jesus none is more amazing 
than this miracle of condescension. We look over the 
portal and see him, "a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief;" yet " he hath upon his vesture and thigh a 
name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." His 
life on earth begins with the words, " there was no room 
for him in the inn;" and the opening of its last chapter 
is, " they besought him that he would depart out of their 
coasts." He was a homeless man. Out on the hillsides, 
beneath God's silent stars, he who had not where to lay 
his head slept in the cold dews of night. It was little 
wonder then that the people's doors were closed against 
him. They knew not who he was. But we have seen 
him crowned with the glory of all history. Alas ! for us, 
if there is no room for this Jesus in our hearts. 

Second Wonder : " I stand at the door " — waiting. He 
has waited long. He came to us in the bright days of 
youth, when " life went a-Maying with nature, hope, and 
poesy." He stood and called, "Let me in! I will be as 
sunshine to thy pleasures ; I will be to thy soul as the 



234 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

dews of Hermon !" The years went by and manhood 
came ; and still we heard his pleading voice, " I have 
waited long ; my locks are wet with the dews of night ; 
now let me in and I will sanctify to holy uses thy strength 
and fervor and ambition ; I will enable thee to grow unto 
the full stature of a man ! ' The years have gone by and 
the old-time whisperings of the Spirit are as a tale that is 
told, and the days have come when we say, " I have no 
pleasure in them;" yet still the Stranger at our door 
waits and calls — it is the eleventh hour ; the night draws 
near — " Let me in, and in my fellowship redeem the rem- 
nant of thy life." 

Yes, the pierced hand still knocketh, 

And beneath the crowned hair 
Beam the patient eyes, so tender, 

Of the Saviour, waiting there ! 

It is a stony heart indeed that resists such overtures 
of love. Stony ? Ask the stones on the seashore how 
they were worn and bruised and broken at last, and they 
will answer, " The long wearing of the waters has done 
it." The heart that resists the never-ceasing love of 
Christ, his calls of mercy more frequent than the follow- 
ing of wave on wave, is justly described as " harder than 
a stone." 

There is surely some misunderstanding. We cannot 
know his errand. We think he comes to judge or to 
condemn, but " The Son of man is come not to condemn 
the world, but that the world through him might be 
saved." Dr. Arnot, on hearing that one of his parish- 
ioners, a poor widow, was to be evicted for non-payment 
of rent, took with him a sum of money and knocked at 
her door at evening. He thought he heard the shuffling 



A TEXT OF WONDERS. 235 

of feet and the turning of the window-blind, but his re- 
peated knockings were unanswered and he went his way. 
The next morning he called again. When he told of his 
previous visit the poor widow cried, " Oh, Dr. Arnot ! 
was it you ? I heard the knock, but I thought it was my 
landlord all the while." Oh ! if we knew what is in the 
heart of the divine visitor who stands waiting at our door 
we surely would not exclude him. 

Third Wonder: "I stand and knock" Why does he 
not break down the barriers and force his way ? It is be- 
cause he respects the sanctity of our human nature. A 
man's heart is his castle. The reason and will are two 
mighty bolts by which it is fastened against God. He 
addresses himself to the reason, saying, " Come, now, 
and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'' But 
even when the upper bolt is drawn the lower bolt holds 
fast. We may yield an intellectual assent to all the argu- 
ments and entreaties of his grace, but in the last reduc- 
tion the will must yield or Jesus never can come in. 
There lies the fault. " Ye will not come unto me, that 
ye might have life." Ye will not ! 

A brave soldier was Charles XII. of Sweden. In con- 
stant apprehension of attack, he was ever on his guard. 
His sword was always half out of its scabbard. But in 
the siege of Frederickshall death smote him in the twink- 
ling of an eye. Yet not so quickly but that his hand in- 
stinctively grasped the handle of his sword, so that when 
his henchmen sprang to catch him the old king was on 
guard. So men die spiritually. Their will is ever up in 
arms. The heart inclines, the intellect is convinced, but 
the will stands defiant to the last. 



236 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Fourth Wonder : " If any man will open unto me." 
Great words are these which the gospel uses : " all," 
" any," "every," "whoever," "whosoever." In heaven 
are all kinds and degrees of sinners saved by grace. Up 
yonder is Peter, who denied his Lord. Up yonder is the 
Magdalene, who, soiled with a wretched life of sin, heard 
him say, " Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." Up yonder is the penitent 
thief, who had time but for a single prayer, " Lord, re- 
member me!" All forgiven for Jesus' sake; all clothed 
in fine linen, clean and white. So, then, there is hope 
for every one. 

A proclamation of amnesty was issued by George III. 
during our Revolutionary War, in which all our rebel- 
lious fathers were offered a free pardon, except John 
Hancock and a few kindred spirits. The bold signature 
of John Hancock in the Declaration of Independence had 
ruled him out. But God's amnesty makes no exceptions. 
He is able and willing to save unto the uttermost ; who- 
soever will may take the water of life freely. 

Fifth Wonder : "/ will come in to him?' He prom- 
ises to be our guest. He will consent to be entertained 
in our sinful hearts as he was in the guest-chamber at 
Bethany ; but, if so, what a transformation there must be ! 
What a turning out of old lusts and passions and darling 
sins, and what a letting in of peace and joy ! I have a 
pleasant recollection of an old uncle, who always wore a 
smiling face and whose coming to our village home was 
like a benediction upon us. He had a kind word for 
every one, a warm hand-grasp for father and mother, a 
merry word for us children — and sugar-plums too. Dead 
now these many years, how sweet his memory ! The 
home was always brighter for his coming, and when he 



A TEXT OF WONDERS. 237 

went his way it was as if some lights went out. But, oh! 
what must it be when our elder Brother comes in to 
dwell with us ! 

Sixth Wonder: "And I will sup with him" The 
feasts of Vitellius have gone into history. It was not an 
uncommon thing for him to spend upon a single banquet 
the revenues of a whole province. Lampreys were 
brought from distant seas ; nightingales' tongues and 
peacocks' brains and all manner of delicacies were upon 
the table. Those were illustrious feasts, but nothing like 
the feast which awaits those who open their hearts to the 
gracious Son of man. He brings with him the viands of 
the banquet : water from the King's well, wine from the 
King's vineyards, apples and pomegranates from the 
King's orchard ; the joy of pardon — " Son, thy sins be 
forgiven thee ;" the peace of God that passeth all under- 
standing — " My peace I give unto you : let not your heart 
be troubled, neither let it be afraid;" the hope that 
" maketh not ashamed," with all the consolations of the 
heavenly grace ; but, best of all, His own presence. Up 
in the Highlands, when Queen Victoria was travelling 
incognito she came, with a few attendants, to a Scottish 
home where she asked for entertainment. The old Scotch 
mother received her quietly, dusted a stool with her 
apron, and provided such humble fare as chanced to be 
at hand. She showed so little care or worry that they 
felt sure she did not know her royal guest. But when 
the meal was over and they were going, she set the stool 
aside and said with a courtesy, " Your Majesty, no other 
shall ever sit there." If such honor and joy were hers, 
what happiness must linger in the heart that has enter- 
tained the Christ ! 

Seventh Wonder, and greatest of all : "If any man 



238 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

open unto me." If! In this doubt are involved the 
issues of life and death. Is it not strange that men should 
be so blind to their eternal weal? A little girl holding 
her father's hand stood before Holman Hunt's picture of 
"The Waiting Christ. ,, The look of grief, of ill-requited 
kindness, on the stranger's worn face touched her to the 
quick. She looked long and earnestly; her eyes filled 
slowly with tears ; " Papa," said she, " did he get in ?" 

Here are two wonders : the waiting Christ and the soul 
refusing to receive him. He speaks to us again to-day. 
Open unto him. Let the years of thoughtless rejection 
and ingratitude suffice. Why should we longer reject 
him ? Let us open unto him to-day. To admit him to 
our hearts means to give up living for self, and forthwith 
to live for others and for God. It means to give up living 
for this world and to have our conversation in heaven. 
It means to lose our " certain looking for of judgment," 
and have instead a great peace in the soul. It means to 
lose such pleasures as have in them the bitterness of sin, 
and gain holier pleasures which are eternal. 

" Though some good things of lower worth 

My heart is called on to resign, 
Of all the gifts in heaven or earth, 

The best, the very best, is mine : 
The love of God, in Christ made known, 
The love that satisfies alone, 
The love of God is all mine own !" 

Hearken ! Now the voice pleads without, " Open unto me, 
and I will come in and sup with you." What say you ? 
O Jesus Christ ! what shall we say ? Dearest of friends, 
most sovereign of kings, mightiest of helpers, come in 
this day ; come in and sup with us ! 



WHY SHOULD I PRAY? 239 

WHY SHOULD I PRAY? 



"Ask, . . . seek, . . . knock." Matt. 7:7. 

The beginning* of theology is the divineness of man. 
We can entertain no correct views of truth until we 
recognize the fact that we are akin with God. 

It is written that " God created man in his own image 
and after his likeness." Wherein does this likeness 
reside? Not in the body, though it is not inappro- 
priately called " the human form divine " ; for God has 
" neither body, parts, nor passions." Nor is it mainly in 
the intellect, for God, being omniscient, performs no 
mental processes and reaches no logical conclusions : all 
things being always present to him. The resemblance 
must be, therefore, in the moral or spiritual part of man. 
In this he is differentiated from all the lower orders of life : 
they never bow the knees or lift the eyes in worship ; 
We assert our divine kinship in our communion with 
God. 

What is prayer ? We minimize it when we regard it 
simply as a matter of momentary phrase and posture. It 
is that, but vastly more. Prayer is like the commerce 
which goes on between the ocean and the clouds. There 
is a perpetual exhalation of moisture which descends in 
morning dews and rains ; exhales again in rising mists, 
and murmurs back in brooks and rivulets and rolling 
rivers to the seas, and so forever. Thus there is a prayer 
without ceasing — a devout communion, like the love be- 
tween a mother and her child, of which words of endear- 
ment are an essential part, but not all, 



240 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

There are some who hold that prayer is a mere rela- 
tion ; but it is difficult to conceive how a devout spirit 
could fail to express itself in formal acts of devotion. 
There are others to whom prayer is little or nothing 
more than saying one's prayers. Still others never pray 
at all. To all alike the rationale of prayer should be a 
matter of supreme importance, for there is nothing that 
more vitally concerns our eternal weal than the ground 
and method of our communion with God. 

I. It is obedience to the voice of nature, 

" For what are men better than sheep or goats, 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 
Both for themselves and those who call them friends ? 
For so the whole round earth is every way 
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 

Plutarch says, " If we traverse the world, we shall find 
people who have no walls, nor fleets nor armies, no 
kings nor legislatures, no theatres nor schools; but a 
people without a temple no man ever saw." The uplift- 
ing of a soul in formal devotion is the expression of a 
universal instinct. The prayerless man is, therefore, 
guilty of a sin against nature. If humanity were in its 
normal state the heart would commune with the great 
Father as naturally as a heliotrope turns towards the sun. 
Not long ago I was sent for to visit a humble home 
where an only child lay dying. The mother had been 
accustomed to pray in her earlier life, but religion had 
long ceased to afford her any sensible comfort. The 
father was a defiant unbeliever. As we stood beside the 
bed a sudden pallor came upon the little face, the sure 
token of approaching death, and the father cried in a 
voice of anguish, " For God's sake, pray !" Thus nature 



WHY SHOULD I PRAY? 24I 

asserted herself at last ; and indeed there are seasons in 
every life when the soul is forced to cry out unto God. 

II. Prayer is reasonable. It is common in these 
times to say that prayer is irrational, because it suggests 
an interference with the calm processes of law. This 
statement is substantially that which Milton assigns to 
the Prince of Darkness : 

" If by prayer 
Incessant I could hope to change the will 
Of Him who all things can, I would not cease 
To weary Him with my assiduous cries ; 
But prayer against his absolute decree 
No more avails than breath against the wind, 
Blown stifling back on him who breathes it forth." 

In this rationalistic argument, however, certain facts of 
importance are lost sight of. (1) There is a law-giver who 
is above all. God reigns in the midst of law. The laws of 
the universe emanate from him as sunbeams from the cen- 
tral orb. Among the last words of David Strauss were 
these : " In the enormous machine of the universe, amid 
the incessant whirl and hiss of its iron-jagged wheels and 
the deafening crash of ponderous stamps and hammers, 
in this terrific commotion, I find myself a helpless and 
defenceless man ; not sure for a moment that a wheel may 
not seize and rend me or a hammer crush me into pow- 
der : and this sense of abandonment is something awful !" 
Such is the darkness, the despair, into which the soul is 
brought when it eliminates God from the philosophy of 
life. (2) No account is made of God's reserve. Why 
should it be assumed that all the laws of the universe 
have been revealed to us ? We see things moving in a 
certain way and leap to the conclusion that they can move 
in no other. But why ? If a member of your household 

Religion of the Future. 1 6 



242 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

falls ill the malady is not allowed to pursue its course 
unhindered ; you forthwith call the doctor, who intro- 
duces a new factor into the problem — arrests and reverses 
what seems to be the natural order of things. May not 
God in like manner be summoned to help us ? An engi- 
neer is driving his locomotive at full speed when a little 
child is seen playing on the track before it. What now ? 
Is there no deliverance? Must this monster pursue its 
course unhindered ? No ; the engineer lays his hand 
upon a lever and reverses its wheels. May not the Mas- 
ter of the universe pursue a like course when his children 
cry unto him? (3) It is forgotten that love is above all. 
God is love. " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear him." At the beginning of our 
Civil War there was a general demand for the liberation of 
slaves, but it was "unconstitutional" — law stood in the 
way. There came a time, however, when obstacles yielded 
to a higher necessity : salus populi suprema lex. Then 
Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation. All legal 
obstacles yielded to the public weal. Prayer touches the 
divine heart and takes hold upon that love which is the 
supreme law. " If earthly parents know how to give 
good gifts unto their children, how much more shall 
your Father in heaven give good things to them that 
ask him !" 

III. It is noble to pray : and, conversely, it is ignoble 
not to pray. 

If there is a God — and unless all are prepared to 
make that concession the controversy ends here and now — 
and if all our blessings are from him, then it would ap- 
pear that a grateful acknowledgment is in the nature of 
common courtesy. Let me speak in a parable : I had 
an acquaintance once who fell into sudden adversity. I 



WHY SHOULD I PRAY? 243 

helped him. I provided the food upon his table ; I en- 
abled him to keep a shelter over his head ; time passed, 
and prosperity returned to him, but he made no acknowl- 
edgment of the debt. To-day I pass him on the street but 
he does not recognize me. What say you of such a man ? 
He is a mean man. All will agree upon that — he is a 
mean man. But how is it with yourself in your relations 
with God? The breath in your nostrils is from him. 
The bread upon your table is his bread. All that you 
have in the world is from his gracious hand, yet you 
have not the courtesy to say, "I thank you." Is not this 
ignoble ? or shall we observe a lower rule of courtesy in 
our relations to Jehovah than in our relations with our 
fellow men ? Moreover, we are sensible of having offended 
him. We have broken his righteous laws. If I tread 
upon your foot I forthwith offer you an apology. I were 
no gentleman if I failed to do this. What then shall we 
say for ourselves if, having grieved our Heavenly Father 
in numberless ways, we offer no amends ? nay, refuse 
even to say, " I am sorry/' or " I ask pardon " ? It is 
such considerations as these that moved Plato, in formu- 
lating his ideal republic, to pronounce prayerlessness a 
crime in the nature of lese Majeste ; and, when persisted 
in, punishable with death. 

IV. It is in pursuance of the divine will A word 
here will answer. There is scarcely a section of Holy Writ 
in which we are not enjoined to call upon the Lord and 
make known our requests unto him. " Ask — seek — ■ 
knock." It is the command of God. Here is the altar 
with the smoke rising continually towards heaven ; here 
are swinging censers with their ascending odors typifying 
the acceptableness of petition ; and here is the mercy-seat 
sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, who ever liveth to make 



244 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

intercession for us. If confirmation of the ordinance be 
asked, we shall find it in the example of Christ himself. 
What a sermon might be preached on his prayer-life! 
He was constant in supplication. 

" Cold mountains and the midnight air 
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer.' ' 

V. Prayer is answered. This is the consummation of 
the argument. Prayer moves the hand that moves the 
world. It is asserted in some quarters that prayer is val- 
uable for its reflex influence alone : we ask, not that we 
may receive, but that we may be made content without 
receiving ; our seeking and our knocking are important 
because they bring us into a devotional and placid mood. 
It is true that prayer is blessed in its reflex influence. 
The face of Moses shone when he came down out of the 
mountain. But this is not all. Imagine a man, when you 
knock at his door, calling out of his window, " You are 
quite right, my friend. I have no intention of opening 
the door, but this is good exercise for you. Keep on 
knocking. Come again to-morrow, and presently you 
will attain to such a condition of mind that you will no 
longer care to come in." The importunate neighbor in 
the parable was admitted and received the loaves of bread. 
Nay, nay ; the Lord meant precisely what he said : " Ask, 
and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you." 

A few years ago Prof. Tyndall proposed a prayer-test, 
which was, very properly, rejected for many reasons, but 
best of all because a universal prayer-test has been going 
on since the beginning of time. Men in trouble have 
gone staggering to the trysting- place to utter their sup- 
plication before God, and have come forth light-hearted. 



WHY SHOULD I PRAY? 245 

Souls in trouble have prostrated themselves at the mercy- 
seat, and have risen again to find that the clouds were 
cleared away, and have gone their way singing. The 
winter is past, the rain is over, and again the flowers ap- 
pear, on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is 
come. We speak that we do know ; we testify that we 
have seen. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard 
and saved him out of all his trouble. 

In the time of the Scottish persecutions, the men of 
a certain village having gone forth to the defence of 
their country, the village minister was left alone with the 
women and children. On receiving news of the approach 
of the bloody Claverhouse he got them all together and 
sought a shelter among the hills. Ere they had reached 
their destination they heard the blast of a trumpet, and 
across a narrow gorge saw Claverhouse and his men. 
What, then, should be done ? The minister knelt down 
with the women and children about him and prayed : " O 
Lord, thou seest our extremity. This is the hour and 
the power of thine enemies. Twine them about the hills, 
O Lord, and cast the lap of thy cloak over puir old 
Saunders and these frail bairns, and save these for thy 
great mercy's sake ; then will we tell, to the commenda- 
tion of thy goodness, what thou didst for us at sic a time. ,, 
And when they raised their eyes a cloud of mist rising 
from the valley had intervened between them and their 
persecutors. He had twined them about the hills ; he had 
cast the lap of his cloak over the women and bairns, and 
they escaped. A mere coincidence ? Praise God, all his- 
tory is full of such coincidences. The life of every believer 
is full of them. Miracles ? Ay, every answer to prayer 
is a miracle. God worketh wonders in answer to his chil- 
dren's cry, 



246 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

To your knees, then, O believer ! More things are 
wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. God hears 
and answers. Let us, therefore, pray and never faint. 
" When wilt thou cease thy begging ?" said Queen Eliza- 
beth to Raleigh. " Never, your Majesty," he replied, 
" until thou cease thy giving." 



HOW SHALL I PRAY? 247 

HOW SHALL I PRAY? 



" And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, 
when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, 
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Luke 
11:1. 

Who among us has not a secret place where the un- 
answered prayers of the past years are put away like 
letters bearing- the stamp, " Uncalled for " — a place where 
we go to mourn over hope deferred, crying, " Would God 
that he had heard me !" 

Why are our prayers ever unanswered ? Is it because 
God is unable ? Nay. " Hast thou not known, hast thou 
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Creator of the 
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary ?" It is as easy for 
him to hear the hardest prayer as for a mother to take 
her infant to her breast. Is it then because he is unwill- 
ing? Not this, surely; for "if ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in heaven give good 
things to them that ask him !" The fault is ours. We 
ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss. 

So, then, no prayer is more important than this: 
" Lord, teach us how to pray." To whom can we go but 
unto him ? We stand near the shadow of the olive-trees 
and hear him as he presses to his lips the purple cup of 
death. He has taken upon his heart the burden of the 
world's sin. The pain of the great sacrifice has begun. 
" Oh, my Father," he pleads, " if it be possible let this 
cup pass from me !" once and again ; and then again, 



248 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

" Oh, my Father, if it be not possible, thy will be done !" 
He comes forth from the shadow, his face marked with 
the agony of that awful prayer as it were with great drops 
of blood. And of him we ask the momentous secret, 
" Lord, teach us how to pray." 

The qualifications of real prayer — the prayer that wins 
a hearing and an answer at the heavenly throne — are as 
follows : 

I. We must believe in God, " When ye pray say, 
Our Father." A famous positivist was wont to formulate 
his supplications on this wise : " O God, if there be a 
God, save my soul, if I have a soul." In like manner the 
ancient Romans were accustomed to write their prayers 
on slips of parchment and toss them into the air, in the 
hope that a favoring wind might carry them to the feet of 
some propitious deity. So shipwrecked sailors, tossed 
upon the ocean, write out the story of their extremity, 
enclose it in a bottle, and trust it to the waves. A child 
playing by the seashore finds it, opens, and reads it: 
" We are going down ; our provisions are gone; there is 
no hope." Is this the method of our prayer ? Nay ; we 
must believe that God is, and that he is the rewarder of 
them that diligently seek him. He must be to us a sub- 
lime verity, an ever-present help in time of trouble, a ref- 
uge from the storm and a shadow from the heat, when 
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the 
wall. We shall not be able to say, " Our Father," unless 
we believe in him as a prayer-hearing and a prayer- 
answering God. 

II. We must get down before him — low down before 
him. It is not a question of bodily posture. The priests of 
the olden time were wont to pray standing, with their faces 
towards the sky. David sat down before God. Solomon 



HOW SHALL I PRAY? 249 

knelt in the presence of the great congregation when he 
dedicated the house magnifical. Abraham prostrated 
himself upon the earth before the Holy One. It matters 
little whether we sit or stand or kneel, or lie upon our 
faces like the Moslem when he cries, Allah il Allah / if 
only our souls are humbled before him. The last lesson 
that we learn is humility. We are loth to concede the 
difference that separates between the finite and the infi- 
nite. But what are we that God should be mindful of 
us ? We are the creatures of his hand and alienated 
from him by our many sins. It was not until Paul was 
an aged man that he wrote, Anno Domini 59, " I am 
not worthy to be called an apostle." It was five years 
later before he had progressed so far in the great lesson 
as to confess, " I am less than the least of all saints." But 
in the year of his death, when he was quite ready for his 
translation to the heavenly life, he said, " I am the chief 
of sinners." 

III. We must have something to say. The word with 
which God greets us as we approach the mercy-seat is 
this, " What wilt thou ?" There is a broad difference 
between saying one's prayers and praying. A sigh has 
more prevailing power with God than the most sweetly 
chanted Paternoster without heart-meaning. A tear has 
more of beauty in his sight than the most elegant figure 
of speech woven in a saint's litany. The penitent cry of 
a returning prodigal makes sweeter music in his ears than 
all the antiphonies of the chanting monks. 

" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire 
Uttered or unexpressed ; 
The motion of a hidden fire 
That trembles in the breast !" 

An illustration of simplicity in prayer is found in 



250 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

" Bleak House," where poor Joe is dying: he looks up 
dimly at his companion and says, 

"It's turned wery dark, sir! Is there any light 
a-comin' ?" 

" Joe, my poor fellow !" 

" I hear you, sir, in the dark ; but I 'm a-gropin', 
a-gropin'; let me catch hold of your hand." 

"Joe, can you say what I say?" 

" I '11 say anythink as you say, for I knows it 's good." 

" ' Our Father—' " 

" ' Our Father ' — yes, that 's wery good, sir." 

" ' Which art in heaven' " — 

" ' Art in heaven.' Is the light a-comin', sir?" 

" It 's close at hand, Joe ; fallowed be thy name' " 

" < Hallowed— be— thy— ' " 

The light is come upon the poor benighted way. 
Dead ! 

IV. Faith : the promise is, " If ye shall ask anything 
in my name, believing that ye receive it, ye shall have it." 
God must be taken at his word. Prayer without faith is 
as water poured upon the ground. A father brought his 
lunatic child to be healed by the disciples in the absence 
of Christ. In vain did he entreat them ; their hands 
had not yet caught the Master's cunning. The by-stand- 
ers were deriding them for their impotency, and the child 
lay at their feet foaming in convulsions. At that moment 
Jesus came down from the mountain all glowing with the 
brightness of the transfiguration ; as he drew near, the 
distracted father ran to meet him, crying, " Oh, Master, I 
beseech thee to look upon my child, for he is my only 
child, and if thou canst do anything, have mercy upon 
us !" If thou canst ! Ah, notwithstanding his agony of 
earnestness, he doubted. " It is possible," said Christ, 



HOW SHALL I PRAY? 25 1 

" if thou believest." There was something in the words, 
possibly in the kindly look of Jesus, that convinced the 
man. " Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief." And 
immediately the child was made whole. It was then that 
Jesus said to the multitude, " Whatsoever things ye ask 
for, if ye believe that ye receive them, ye shall have 
them." 

Doubt is our worst enemy at the mercy-seat. It shuts 
up the windows of heaven ; it clips the wings of our peti- 
tions and leaves them fluttering like wounded birds striv- 
ing in vain to reach the upper air ; it bewilders them on 
the borders of the promised land, so that, like faithless 
Israel, they " cannot enter in because of unbelief ;" it cries, 
" There is a lion in the way !" it lifts a white flag in the 
hour of triumph ; it chants a dirge when hope calls for 
hosannas; it blocks up the way to infinite wealth with 
"ifs" and "perhapses." But faith is the battle-axe with 
which the suppliant fights his way to heaven's gate. 
Aye, through the gate to the treasure-house. Oh, the 
wonders that faith works, subduing kingdoms, stopping 
the mouths of lions, quenching the violence of fire ! 

We are to believe, not merely in God's word, but in 
his wisdom — in his superior wisdom. For we know not 
what to pray for as we ought. 

" We, ignorant of ourselves, 
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
Deny us for our good." 

It is not so much a spirit of submission we need as of 
cheerful acquiescence in the divine wisdom. Paul tells us 
that he prayed thrice that his thorn in the flesh might 
depart from him. The Lord, however, knew best. He 
knew that Paul's thorn had some disciplinary value which 



252 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

made it necessary to his welfare, so he said, " My grace 
shall be sufficient for thee; for my strength is made per- 
fect in weakness." It was a sore trial ; no doubt Paul 
groaned under it and wondered why God could not grant 
his desire. But the time came when he perceived the 
meaning of it, and said, "Most gladly, therefore, will I 
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may 
rest upon me," This is the voice of filial confidence. It 
does not mean that we are content to have our prayers 
unanswered, but that we are quite content, in view of 
God's superior wisdom, to have him answer as he will. 
Thus Charles Wesley wrote : 

" Whate'er I ask, I surely know 

And steadfastly believe, 
Thou wilt the thing desired bestow, 

Or else a better give. 
To Thee, I, therefore, Lord, submit 

My ever fond request ; 
And own, adoring at thy feet, 

Thy will is always best." 

V. Importunity. Let us remember the words of the 
Lord Jesus, how he said, "The kingdom of heaven suf- 
fereth violence and the violent take it by force." In like 
manner Terence, in speaking of prayer at the pagan 
altars, used the expression obtundere deos, as if the peti- 
tions must be rolled over like rumbling wheels against 
the doorways of the gods. Of this we may be sure, God 
loves our importunity. Bishop Hall says, " It is not the 
arithmetic, of our prayers, how many they be ; nor the 
geometry of our prayers, how long they be ; nor the 
rhetoric of our prayers, how elegant they be; nor the 
music of our prayers, how sweet they be ; nor the divin- 
ity of our prayers, how much of the marrow of sound 



HOW SHALL I PRAY? 253 

doctrine they hold ; but it is the fervency of our prayers 
that availeth much." 

That was a wonderful parable that was enacted by the 
brook Jabbok when Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the 
Covenant. All night long he struggled with his unknown 
Antagonist until, when the morning began to shine above 
the eastern hills, the Angel cried, " Let me go, for the day 
breaketh." It was, however, a question of life or death 
with the patriarch, for his wronged brother was awaiting 
him beyond the brook. " I will not let thee go," there- 
fore he cried, " until thou bless me." Then the blessing 
came, and Jacob was crowned a prince because he had 
prevailed with God. It is given for our instruction, that 
we may know how men ought always to pray and not to 
faint. 

VI. The use of appropriate means : for faith without 
works is dead. Hannah More was wont to say, 
11 If faith produce no works, I see 

Thy faith is not a living tree ; 

They 're soul and body, hand and heart ; 

What God hath joined let no man part." 

One reason why rich men's sons so frequently come to 
naught is because their fathers do everything for them. 
God means that we shall have everything that we need, 
but, like the father of Prince Hal, he intends that we 
shall win our spurs. The wagoner in the old fable, who, 
when his cart was stuck fast in the mire, stood with folded 
hands praying to Hercules for deliverance, was laughed 
at by all who observed him. At length, however, a phi- 
losopher passed by who said, " Friend, how would it an- 
swer if thou shouldst put thy shoulder to the wheel ?" 
God helps no one out of difficulty unless he shows a dis- 
position to help himself 



254 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

We have seen now some of the prerequisites of suc- 
cessful prayer. But after all it is not so important that 
we should pray properly as that we should pray some- 
how. Our Father is not exacting. He heard that poor 
woman who in her sorrow of childlessness came and threw 
herself upon the temple floor and moved her lips but 
uttered not a word. He welcomes all who come to lay 
their burdens at his feet. 

A youth was condemned to die for desertion from our 
Federal army. His widowed mother determined to save 
him. She made her way to Washington afoot, preparing 
herself as she went for the ordeal that awaited her. She 
knew just how she would address the President if she 
were permitted to meet him. She was admitted to the 
Executive Mansion. No sooner did she see the tall, 
homely man with the kindly face approaching her than 
all her fine words and well-rounded phrases forsook her, 
and she threw herself before him crying, " Oh, Mr. Lin- 
coln, save my boy !" 

4 ' There's a wideness in God's mercy 
Like the wideness of the sea : 
There 's a kindness in his justice 
Which is more than liberty. 

" If our love were but more simple 
We should take him at his word ; 
And our lives would be all sunshine 
In the sweetness of our Lord." 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 255 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 



"Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and 
you throughout your generations ; that ye may know that I 
am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Ex. 31 : 13. 

The children of Israel were called to be a peculiar 
people. It was their special work to keep the oracles 
and hand them down to coming ages. It pleased God 
to make a covenant with them in which he promised, 
on condition of faithfulness, a continuance of prosperity 
and national life. The sign of that covenant was the 
Sabbath. The observance of that day was to be a token 
that Israel was loyal to the divine law. A special prom- 
ise was attached to it — " If thou turn away thy foot from 
the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; 
and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, hon- 
orable ; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, 
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own 
words : then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and 
I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, 
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" 

No two nations are alike. Each has its distinctive 
features. In nothing is the difference more marked than 
in the mode of Sabbath observance. The Latin nations 
spend the day in pleasure: in Spain it is the bull-fight; 
in Italy the carnival ; in Paris the dance- hall, the open 

(*) The Anniversary Sermon of the American Sabbath Union, by 
Rev. D. J. Burrell, D. D., at the Marble Collegiate Church, December 
10, 1893. 



256 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

theatre, the annual races, and pleasure of every sort. The 
Teutonic nations observe the day-— if it may be called 
observance — in a more phlegmatic way. They have the 
Schuetzenfest, the beer garden, the concert, the socialistic 
meeting. The Anglo-Saxon nations preserve the serious 
traditions of the rest day. In England the rule of observ- 
ance is prescribed by the national church ; in America, 
however, there is no religious establishment, and the 
Sabbath is in no wise under denominational control, but 
the day is not the less scrupulously kept on that account. 
It is distinctively a rest day. 

No nation is more loyal to the Sabbath than our own. 
The Pilgrim Fathers, as they neared the New England 
coast, found it impossible to land without desecrating the 
holy day. It was bleak December weather. The ship 
was moored by a little island at an hour's distance from 
the mainland. There they landed and spent the Sabbath. 

" Amid the storm they sang ; 

And the stars heard, and the sea ! 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 

To the anthem of the free." 

From that day until the present the Sabbath has been 
observed with more or less earnestness among us. It is 
dies non in our courts and legislatures. As a rule, the 
work of the people is arrested, the fires are banked in the 
factories, the hammer lies unused upon the anvil. With 
a solitary exception, every one of the States of the Re- 
public has enacted Sabbath laws. 

The American Sabbath is one of our peculiar institu- 
tions. It is not secular, neither is it subject to ecclesi- 
astical authority. How could it be, in a government 
where there is an utter divorcement of Church and State ? 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 257 

Nevertheless it rests upon a strong foundation. It finds 
its sanctions in certain facts, which must endure in the 
very nature of things. 

I. A physical or hygienic fact. The necessity of Sab- 
bath rest was written in the constitution of man before it 
was inscribed on the tables of the law. It is interwoven 
with our very nerves and sinews. Our sleep is not 
enough. The clock runs down regularly at the end of 
the sixth day, and the Sabbath is the key that winds it. 
The philosopher Proudhon, a socialist, and author of the 
aphorism, " Property is robbery," was ready to concede 
an argument for revelation in the fact that the Bible fixes 
the exact ratio of labor to rest. " No scientist," he says, 
" could have discovered that the proper ratio is six to 
one." In the time of the French Revolution it was de- 
creed that every tenth day should be set apart for rest 
and recreation, but the effort failed. In the last Paris 
Exposition a medal was awarded to Sabbath literature in 
recognition of the fact that one day in seven is necessary 
for physical and mental rest. Thus it is made to appear, 
quite apart from the Scriptures, that the Sabbath was 
made for man. 

II. An industrial fact. In America we are profoundly 
concerned for the welfare of our workingmen. The labor- 
ing class is our strength and hope. We have no titled 
orders or privileged classes. We lean upon the " Third 
Estate." So that whatever concerns the welfare of honest 
toil is of supreme importance to our national life. It will 
be well, therefore, to give heed to the fact that wherever 
the Sabbath has been devoted to toil the result has been 
not an increased income, but merely seven days' work for 
six days' wages. The Lord admonished the children of 
Israel that manna gathered on the Sabbath despite his 

.Religion of the Future. 1 H 



258 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

injunction would breed worms. The same is true of any 
outcome of Sabbath labor. It never pays. A committee 
appointed in Louisville to investigate this matter reported 
as follows : " We appeal to the workingmen, to those 
who labor by the piece or by the day. In regard to 
Sunday amusements we remind them that wherever the 
Sunday laws are disregarded labor increases much faster 
than public amusement. In Paris, for instance, under the 
appearance of a gala day, the workingman's Sunday is as 
toilsome as any other day, the contractors getting out of 
their men the most that is to be gotten. And, what closes 
up the case, it can be shown that if the Sabbath becomes 
a working day the laborer will not get a penny more for 
seven days* toil than for six." This has been tested again 
and again. The owner of one of the great mills in Min- 
neapolis states that his men not only do better work, and 
keep themselves in better health, but grind more flour 
per annum by working six days in the week than men 
in other mills can do when working seven days. 

III. A social fact. We glory in our American homes. 
The home-life depends upon Sabbath observance. The 
man of the house is busy in the shop or office all the 
week. He leaves his home in the early morning and 
oftentimes returns after his children are in bed. It is on 
the Sabbath, if ever, that he makes the acquaintance of 
his wife and family. Then he gathers them about him 
at the family altar ; sits with them in the sanctuary in the 
family pew ; has time to commune with them around the 
family board ; it is, in many cases, his only opportunity 
for knowing them. In France the home-life has been 
largely broken up by indulgence in Sabbath pleasures. 
You may see the people sitting in front of the caf£s all 
the day, and far into the night. In Germany the beer- 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 259 

garden has encroached upon the sanctity of domestic 
life. The home is often little more than a place to eat 
and sleep in — a front door and a bed room. In line with 
these pleasures a vast amount of Sabbath toil has crept 
in. A bill was brought before the Imperial Parliament 
some time ago providing that, except in cases of necessi- 
ty, manufacturers may not compel their workmen to labor 
on Sundays. During the consideration of this measure 
a member from Berlin, who was also a physician, said, " I 
have had occasion, in my career as a practitioner, to visit 
more than 9,000 workmen who worked on Sunday in 
their shops or at their homes, and I have it on proof that 
the Sunday labor has the most disastrous effect. In 
their homes slovenliness and discord reign; the life of 
the wine-shop has supplanted family life." 

IV. A civil fact ; that is, in the province of political 
economy. It is greatly to be questioned whether a nation 
can be continuously prosperous which does not keep the 
Lord's Day. France is the land of revolutions. Pius IX. 
in a brief pontifical wrote, " Lose not a day, not an hour, 
not a moment ; go and tell France, that France which is 
so dear to me, that if she would be saved she must return 
to the sanctification of the Lord's Day." In Germany, 
where the same danger has been realized, a change of 
public sentiment is noted. Von Moltke and other dis- 
tinguished leaders have, in the interest of the Imperial 
welfare, lent their influence distinctly to Sabbath reform. 
In England, an effort to open the public museums on the 
Sabbath was defeated in the House of Commons by a 
vote of 229 to 87. The Lord High Chancellor, in a 
speech against the proposed measure, said, " If the State 
once enters upon a course of the kind, the only point at 
which it would stop short is the point which has been 



260 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

reached in foreign capitals, where there is absolutely no 
protection to the workingman in the observance of the 
Sabbath. I resist the motion, too, on higher grounds. 
Nothing could be more injurious to the intellectual, the 
moral, and the physical welfare of the country than that 
anything should be done by the State which would lend 
countenance to the idea that men are anxious to get rid 
of the observance of the Sabbath as they now enjoy 
it." In America we are obliged to meet the political 
heresies which are brought to us by immigrants from all 
the nations beyond the sea. God save the republic! 
The voice of history is clear : the nation that defies God 
in this matter cannot prolong its life. The children of 
Israel, in spite of warnings and admonitions, refused to 
keep the Sabbatic law. The desecration continued for a 
period of seventy Sabbatic years. For this offense ex- 
plicitly they were sent away into captivity ; and, in exact 
retribution, by the rivers of Babylon they endured a 
wretched bondage of seventy years. 

V. A fact in the argument as to personal rights. 
We are often told, when urging the enforcement of our 
Sabbath laws, to " mind our own business." This is 
precisely what we propose to do. " What constitutes 
a State ?" says Sir William Jones. 

" Men who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and knowing, dare main tain." 

(i) I have a right to rest without disturbance on the 
Lord's Day. (2) No man can presume under the guar- 
antee of our free institutions to interfere with that right. 
(3) It is incumbent on the government to protect me 
and other citizens in that right of Sabbath rest. In these 
facts lies the rationale of our Sabbath laws. 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 261 

In the International Congress at Geneva, in 1876, 
where this question was in controversy, an American del- 
egate spoke as follows: "I beg you, European Liberals 
and Democrats, to accept this as the unanimous voice of 
American Democracy, after 250 years of practical experi- 
ment : that we want, and will have, our legally protected 
day of rest as the sine qua non of our free institutions and 
of our economic success. We recognize the patent and 
obvious principle that the liberty of rest for each depends 
upon a law of rest for all The difference between Amer- 
ican republicanism, which has been learned by 250 years 
of successful experiment, and the republicanism of our 
imported fellow-citizens, that has been learned from books 
of theory under the shadow of old despotisms, is this : 
that we insist that the law of the liberty of Sunday rest 
shall be applied faithfully, impartially, logically, to the 
whole community, on the principles of liberty, equality, 
and fraternity, while a part of our naturalized fellow- 
citizens are resolved that the equal right to repose of one 
part of the population shall be sacrificed to the privilege 
of amusement of another part. We stand for equal rights 
in this matter ; we shall not give them up ; and for the 
charter and warrant of this great national franchise we 
appeal, not to some venerable parchment, stamped with 
heraldic seals and written over with concessions wrung 
from an unwilling tyrant; not to declarations of the 
rights of man promulgated with theatric pomp by a revo- 
lutionary assembly; not to the provisions of our storm- 
beaten but staunch and stable Constitution ; not even to 
the preamble of that illustrious Declaration of Independ- 
ence whose trumpet tones, a hundred years ago, struck 
the first note of that march to which the world has been 
moving forward ever since ; but to that primeval and 



262 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

most democratic statute-book which, first in the history 
of mankind, ordained a government without monarchy or 
aristocracy ; which has been the inspiration of the world's 
best liberty, and which in its Sabbath law enunciated thus 
the equality of human rights : ' The seventh day is the 
Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do 
any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy 
man-servant, nor thy maid-servant — that thy man-servant 
and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.' " 

VI. A moral fact ; that is, in the province of the moral 
life. Our life is more than meat and drink. A man is 
better than a horse. We are made in God's likeness ; we 
confront great problems ; we apprehend sublime truths ; 
we commune with the Infinite; we live for ever. It is 
wise, therefore, to hold ourselves above the mere drudgery 
of common tasks. The soul must have breathing space, 
and we must turn aside and think. The Sabbath is not 
for mere physical rest, but for the recreation of our nobler 
powers. It is a day when we may come up out of the 
mists of the valley and dwell in the sunshine and breathe 
exhilarating draughts of mountain air with God. It is a 
time to look in upon our own souls ; to look around upon 
the welfare of our friends and neighbors ; to look up to- 
wards the inheritance which is prepared for us, and into 
the face of our Heavenly Father. Thus is it gloriously 
true that the Sabbath was made for man ; for his uplift- 
ing ; for the enlargement of his nobler life. An officer in 
one of the labor guilds of New York city writes as follows : 
"Within a radius of three-quarters of a mile of the Colle- 
giate Church there are at least five community workshops 
of shoemakers, in which labor is carried on a part or whole 
of Sunday. For this there is no adequate return in wages. 
Twenty-five years ago a custom shoemaker could earn 



THE AMERICAN SABBATH. 263 

twenty-five dollars a week ; to-day he cannot make more 
than one-half of it. So with all other occupations where 
Sunday labor is the rule. The result of this Sabbath dese- 
cration is lamentable in the extreme. Wherever it is 
pursued the average intelligence is low, and the moral 
tone almost ceases to exist. I can never think of some of 
these places without calling to mind Carlyle's story of the 
men of the Dead Sea, of whom he says : ' They made no 
use of their souls, and so lost them. But there returned 
to them every Sabbath a bewildered and half conscious, 
half-unconscious reminiscence of the time when they were 
men with souls responsive to the eternal verities/ " 

VII. A religious fact. Nor is this without weight in 
our republic. For, however we may object to the union 
of Church and State, we, as a nation, acknowledge our 
obligations to God. And it has been formally determined 
by the unanimous decision of the Supreme Bench that 
ours is a Christian nation ; that is, its underlying princi- 
ples are those which belong to the Christian faith. So 
that, in the last reduction, we make our appeal always to 
the divine law. Observe (1) God claims a property right 
in the Sabbath ; as it is written, " The seventh day is the 
Sabbath of the Lord thy God." It is, therefore, in the 
nature of robbery for a man or a nation to refuse to ob- 
serve it. (2) The duty of Sabbath observance grows out 
of the divine example ; as it is written, " In six days the 
Lord made heaven and earth, and rested on the seventh 
day : Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and 
hallowed it." We are God's children, and we are required 
to keep the Sabbath because he kept it. (3) It rests dis- 
tinctly on a divine command : " Remember the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy." The word " remember " is signifi- 
cant ; it suggests that there is danger of forgetting it. 



264 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Now, finally, what is the duty of Christian people in 
these premises ? Two things we can and should do. 
First, For ourselves, we should scrupulously keep the 
day. Let us do no work therein. When we leave the 
office or workshop on Saturday night it should be closed 
with a time-lock set to open on Monday morning. Sec- 
ular affairs of the world should cease for us. There 
should be no reading of business letters or consulting the 
ledger on the holy day. The Sunday newspaper should 
be kept out of our homes as an intruder. The hours 
should be scrupulously observed in rest and worship— in 
the delights of the family circle, in the sacred pleasures 
of the sanctuary, and in the trysting place with God. 
Second, It devolves upon us to stand guard over the sanc- 
tions of the Lord's Day. We have statutory laws for its 
observance ; in the interest of our country and society, as 
well as of our personal welfare, let us look to their en- 
forcement. It will be a portentous day for America when 
the Sabbath shall lose its hold upon the people. On May 
16, 187 1, in Paris, the Communists tore down the Column 
Vendome. It represented a cycle of glorious history. It 
commemorated Austerlitz and Marengo. There were 
sad hearts in Paris that day, for when it fell the glory of 
France fell with it. So will it be if ever the malignant 
spirits that assail our American Sabbath shall have their 
way. All the prized traditions of our civil and religious 
freedom are associated with that day. The Lord enable 
us to so employ its sacred hours that we may all at last 
enter into the rest which remaineth for the people of God ! 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 265 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 



" And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was 
hungry: and seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he 
came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he 
came to it, he found nothing but leaves ; for the time of figs 
was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man 
eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard 
it." Mark 11:12, 13, 14. 

It was Monday of Passion Week. There were four 
days only, and so much to be done. Our Lord was en- 
tertained during these last days at the home of Lazarus in 
Bethany, an easy walk from Jerusalem. Each morning 
he betook himself to the city and preached to the multi- 
tudes who thronged to hear him, and late at night, weary, 
he retraced his steps to Bethany. On this particular 
morning, as he drew near to the city with some of his 
disciples, it is said that he was a-hungered. Had Martha, 
the busy housewife, neglected to prepare his morning 
meal ? Or had he, in deference to the Jewish law, refused 
to break his fast before the early sacrifice ? Or had he 
spent the previous night on the mountain-side in prayer ? 
In any case, he was a-hungered. Here was a fig-tree by 
the roadside in full foliage. He approached, lifted the 
leaves, and, lo ! there was nothing there. Then he said, 
" No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever." 

The next day, as certain pilgrims came that way they 
saw the fig-tree withered, and said, " There is a worm at 
its root;" or perhaps, " The sun scorched it." But as his 
disciples passed by they called to remembrance the Mas- 



266 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ter's words, and Peter said, " Behold, the fig-tree which 
thou cursedst is withered away !" 

Why did Jesus curse the fig-tree ? Not for its un- 
comeliness ; for, while its neighbors stood all bare and 
unsightly, it was adorned with foliage. Nor yet for its 
barrenness ; there was no reason why it should be bearing 
fruit at that season, " for the time of figs was not yet." 
But the tree was cursed for being false. It vaunted itself 
above all its fellows as a fruitful tree, for the fig-tree is 
wont to put forth its fruit before its leaves. " Behold," it 
seemed to say, " my forwardness ! The other trees have 
naught but swelling buds, yet here am I in full leaf. Thou 
art hungry, come and see what fruit I bear." But for all 
this profession there was nothing to show. 

" But," say the critics, " it was not Christ like to curse 
a living thing. He came not to destroy but to save. His 
miracles were full of mercy— the opening of blind eyes, the 
wiping away of lepers' scales, the healing of sore hearts." 
A great truth, however, was to be taught, and it was 
Christlike thus to teach it. The fig-tree was his, for he 
made it ; standing by the roadside, no man owned it ; it 
was an insensate thing and suffered not. Shall a farmer 
have right to cut down an olive-tree for the crooked 
share of his plough, or shall a boatman fell an oak for 
his canoe, and may not the Son of God have right to 
go among his own trees and choose one for a mighty 
use? 

The cursing of this barren tree was an acted parable. 
It taught this lesson : the penalty of an empty prof ession is 
eternal emptiness ; the outcome of fruitlessness in this pro- 
bationary life is barrenness for ever. 

I. This lesson was primarily addressed to the Jews, 
They were a " chosen people." Chosen to what ? Not 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 267 

to a peculiar right in the kingdom so much as to peculiar 
tasks and responsibilities. At the time when the nations 
were wandering away from truth and righteousness it 
pleased God to call Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, that 
he and his children should become the depositaries of the 
true religion and of the hope of the coming Messiah, and 
should pass on that blessed heritage to the coming ages. 
To this end they were entrusted with the oracles in which 
was recorded " the hope of Israel ;" that is, the coming 
of Messiah, who should deliver the world from sin. To 
the same end they had the Temple, with its elaborate 
ceremonial, in which every knop and almond blossom, the 
laver, the brazen altar, the table of show-bread, the golden 
candlestick, the fine twined curtain, the ark of the cove- 
nant, with blood, blood sprinkled everywhere, all told of 
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; the 
Lamb whose offering on Calvary was to bring about the 
glorious restitution of all things. And to the same end 
they were secluded in the promised land : a little strip of 
country, hemmed in like a closet by sea and desert and 
mountains, where they were to dwell as a separated peo- 
ple, holding in trust their great responsibility and awaiting 
the coming of the promised One. 

What was the outcome ? They became the proudest 
people on earth ; insomuch that they had no dealings 
with the nations around them. They held their Scrip- 
tures as a fetich ; the word of God was overlaid with the 
traditions of the elders. The Temple came to be the 
centre of an empty ritualism of which the Lord grew 
weary. " To what purpose," said he, " is the multitude of 
your sacrifices unto me ? I am full of the burnt offerings of 
rams and the fat of fed beasts. Bring no more vain obla- 
tions. Your incense is an abomination unto me. The 



268 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

new moons and Sabbaths and calling ot assemblies I 
cannot away with. I am weary to bear them." They 
were scrupulous in the observance of all outward forms. 
They paid tithes of mint, anise and cummin ; they broad- 
ened their phylacteries ; they made long prayers at the 
corners of the streets to be seen of men ; the life had 
wholly gone out of their devotion. " Ye make clean the 
outside of the cup and of the platter," said the Lord, "but 
within they are full of extortion and excess." And again, 
" Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which are fair with- 
out, but within full of dead men's bones, and all unclean- 
ness." The nation was false to its great responsibility. 
While keeping up this show of righteousness it had wan- 
dered far from God. "The hope of Israel" had so far 
lost its hold upon them that when Messiah came, whom 
they should have received with acclamations of welcome, 
he had for them no form or comeliness, and there was no 
beauty in him that they should desire him. And, where- 
as they had been chosen to receive the Christ and glorify 
him before all the people, they led him out beyond their 
walls and put him to an ignominious death. 

For this recreancy to duty, for this abundance of foli- 
age without fruit, the curse of barrenness passed upon 
them. A people of great intellect, of splendid culture, 
of vast wealth, of glorious history, of an unparalleled 
lineage, they are the one great people who are without 
apparent influence on the world's destiny or the great 
movements of succeeding ages. 

In the old wall of Jerusalem there is a rood of Cyclo- 
pean blocks where the Jews are wont to assemble and 
sorrowfully read over the records of their past glory. It 
is their " wailing-place." They sit rocking to and fro, 
sobbing their prayers into the very crevices of the wall. 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 269 

The barren tree is withered, stripped of its leaves and 
fruit alike : the chosen people, false to their duty and their 
destiny, are doomed to perpetual fruitlessness. 

II. But the lesson comes nearer home ; it is for the 
followers of Christ. We also are a chosen people. It is 
written : " He gave himself for us that he might redeem 
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works. " The "good works" 
here referred to have reference to the propagation of the 
gospel of Christ. The work which Israel failed to do is 
laid upon us, namely, to transmit the true religion to 
coming generations and to spread abroad the gospel of 
the Messiah until all the nations shall bow before him. 

We profess great things. The tree puts forth a luxu- 
riant foliage, in which the world as well as our Master has 
reason to expect much fruit. We profess repentance; 
that is, hatred and abandonment of sin. We profess 
regeneration; that is, a new life in Christ Jesus — new 
hopes, new purposes and aspirations. We profess sanc- 
tification; that is, a building up of character under the 
influence of the Holy Spirit in the imitation of Christ. 
We profess to be the servants of our Lord, anxious to 
follow in his footsteps in the winning of souls and the 
hastening of the Kingdom of Truth and Righteousness. 
We profess an entire consecration — time, talents, posses- 
sions all laid before our Master's feet. We profess to 
believe that our life here is but a handbreadth and that 
we journey towards a better country, even a heavenly, 
so that our conversation should not be here but in heaven, 
and our lives be hid with Christ in God. The tree that 
bears such leafage should surely be abundantly fruitful. 
What manner of persons ought we to be ! 

The fruit which should naturally be expected of us 



270 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

under these circumstances is of two kinds. (1) Charac- 
ter. We are called to be saints and holy people. You 
remember how St. Anthony is represented — sitting in his 
cave with downcast face, clad in hair- cloth, and bearing 
the marks of long fasting, a crucifix over him, a skull be- 
side him. But this is not the saint of modern time. He 
is rather a man among men; truthful, upright, one who 
meets his honest obligations, vows and pays to his own 
hurt, good-tempered at home, reverent everywhere, char- 
itable and kindly towards all. You recall also how St. 
Cecilia is represented — with harp in hand, halo about her 
brow, and eyes uplifted towards an angel choir. But this 
is not the saint of modern time. Nay, rather, an elect 
lady who layeth her hands to the spindle and maketh 
strength and honor her clothing ; who reacheth forth her 
hands to the needy and feareth the Lord ; true and gen- 
tle in her appointed place. It is such saintliness that 
should be expected of those who follow the Christ. 

The other form of fruit is (2) Duty ; by which we mean 
loyalty to the supreme obligation of the Christian life, 
which is to do one's utmost for the deliverance of this 
world from the shame and bondage of sin. Here is a 
world lying in darkness. Here is the cross uplifted in its 
midst, and here is the voice saying, " Go ye, evangelize." 
Our Lord came into the world to save it by his self- 
denial, and he said, " As the Father hath sent me, so have 
I sent you." We are to make our power felt in the better- 
ment of our community, in the sweetening of social life, 
in the winning of souls. " Ye are the salt of the earth ; 
but if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be 
salted ? it is thenceforth good for nothing." " Ye are the 
light of the world ; let your light so shine that men may 
see your good works and glorify God." 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 27 1 

III. The lesson has a still further application : to non- 
Christians. " We make no profession, " they say. Oh, 
yes, they do ! They profess great things. They put 
forth an abundance of leaves. 1. They profess a com- 
plete self-sufficiency. They feel no need of prayer ; they 
rise in the morning and enter upon the dangers of trav- 
elling through an unknown country without calling for 
help and guidance from above, and in this they avow 
themselves to be able to get along without God. 2. They 
profess to have no need of the atoning work of Christ. 
They stand on their own merits. If they are conscious 
of sin they propose to bear it. We who have thrown 
ourselves upon the mercy of the Saviour know that we 
cannot in our own righteousness stand at the judgment 
bar, but they have no such scruples. The mis-lived past 
has no terrors for them. 3. They profess to have no 
need of the church. The church is a co-operative asso- 
ciation in which Christ has placed us because we need 
mutual prayer and helpfulness. But they need no 
prayer, they need no sympathy ; they are strong enough 
to stand by themselves. 

It is clear that those who make such imposing pro- 
fessions should be righteous above others. They cer- 
tainly should (1) bear the fruit of spotless character. Jean 
Jacques Rousseau, when he was dying, said, " O thou 
unknown Spirit, I return the soul which I received from 
thee as pure as when thou gavest it." The man who could 
speak with such assurance was surely blind to his own 
failings. Yet one who professes no need of prayer, no 
need of the atonement and intercession of Christ and no 
need of the fellowship of the church ought to be able to 
say as much as he ; and (2) he should bear the fruit of duty 
as well. An abstinence from all relation with the church 



2J2 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

does not absolve from duty. A man has his own ap- 
pointed place to fill, his own great responsibilities to 
meet, his own tasks to perform in an earnest world. To 
live in the tread-mill of mere brod-und-butterschaft, to 
seek a livelihood or a competence, to win success in selfish 
ambitions, to attain wealth or honor, this is surely not to 
meet one's obligations. At this point success, if it go no 
farther, is failure; for it means recreancy to one's high 
destiny and to the grave duties which are involved in it. 

It is said that when the great temple of Minerva 
was erected in Athens all sculptors were invited to com- 
pete in the carving of a great statue for its dome. On 
the day of the award a famous artist brought his work : a 
life-size statue of Minerva, so beautiful that it was re- 
ceived with acclamations of delight. But as it was raised 
to its place it grew smaller and smaller, until it seemed 
but a speck against the sky. The work of a poor me- 
chanic was then unveiled, huge and uncouth ; but as it 
was raised aloft its deformities vanished and it seemed 
more and more comely, until, reaching the dome, it seemed 
animate with life. Alas ! for the man whose work here 
is only life-size ; who measures his duty by the require- 
ments of time and sense. How it will dwindle as it 
approaches eternity ! But work for the Master, wrought 
in simple love of right doing and for the universal weal, 
will grow more and more beautiful as earth fades and 
eternity draws near. Oh, let us live as if we believed in 
the glory of the endless life ! 

And what is the outcome? Here is the universal 
law : to be unfruitful here is to be barren forever. You 
may see outside the gates of Bombay the holy Yogi, who, 
in obedience to his solemn vow, has held his right arm 
aloft so long that it has become a nerveless, shrivelled 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 273 

thing ; its sinews are as hard as cord, its nails are like a 
crow's talons ; it is indeed no better than dead. Yet 
that right arm was capable of great things. It might have 
ploughed the field, it might have reached out in charity, 
it might have lifted the burden of the weary, but it has 
lost its chance. So it is ever true that unused powers 
are cursed with uselessness. The life of mere profession 
is cursed with barrenness : " No man eat fruit of thee for 
ever." But, conversely, the reward of fruitfulness is pro- 
motion to higher tasks. We think that heaven is a place 
of rest, but the rest of heaven is that which comes from 
loyalty to duty : " Thou hast been faithful in a very little, 
have thou authority over ten cities." To fight the good 
fight here is to wear the service-chevron there. Paul 
had suffered many things in Jerusalem as elsewhere. He 
had been scourged and imprisoned and stoned. He bore 
about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, and when 
he was old his reward came. How ? In a season of rest ? 
Nay. But in glorious promotion. There was a city 
where to preach the gospel meant to face the mouths of 
lions or the flaming sword. " Thou hast borne witness of 
me in Jerusalem," said the Master, " thou shalt bear wit- 
ness of me also in Rome." Ah, this is heaven : to go 
from noble service to noble service, from fruitfulness to 
the bearing of more fruit ! The man who is faithful here 
shall be yonder like a tree planted by the rivers of 
water ; he shall bring forth his fruit in his season ; his 
leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall 
prosper — shall prosper forever ! 



Religion of the Future. I 



274 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



A PROFITABLE LIFE. 



" I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my 
bonds : which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now 
profitable to thee and to me." Phil. 10: u. 

Paul, while awaiting the outcome of his appeal to 
Caesar, was kept in custody in the Praetorian camp. Here 
he was treated with marked courtesy. The law requir- 
ing him to be chained to a guard could not be relaxed, 
but for two years he was permitted to dwell in his own 
hired house, where he had liberty to receive and converse 
with all. He was an old man of sixty, in decrepit health, 
but his intellect was unimpaired. It was during this 
imprisonment that he wrote many of those wonderful 
Epistles which are still the doctrinal guides of the church. 
By his personal address he led certain of the imperial 
household to the knowledge of Christ. He was constantly 
engaged, as he tells, in " preaching the kingdom of God, 
and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus 
Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him." One 
day a poor refugee found his way to the camp and was 
brought into contact with this aged prisoner. He was a 
forlorn object, but his misery did not exclude him from 
the provisions of the gospel of grace. Paul won his con- 
fidence and the story of his past life came out. " I was a 
slave," said he, " in the house of Philemon at Colosse." 
(Philemon ! No doubt Paul started at the name, for he 
had known Philemon in the fellowship of Christ.) " I was 
indolent and discontented in his service. At length I 
robbed my master and ran away. On coming to Rome 



A PROFITABLE LIFE. 275 

I fell in with the surging multitude of slaves. Among 
them I squandered my ill-gotten money, and thus came 
to this sorry plight." To this fugitive slave, hungry, 
friendless, and guilt-stricken, the great Apostle preached 
the gospel of forgiving grace. For had not Christ come 
to seek the lost ? Did he not minister to thieves and 
magdalenes? Was he not able to save unto the utter- 
most? The poor guilty slave accepted Christ as his 
Saviour. What then ? " Go back," said Paul, " to your 
old master and make confession and restitution, as be- 
comes a penitent man." He consented, and bore with 
him a letter, charming in its gentle diplomacy, in which 
Paul besought Philemon to receive his former slave " not 
as a servant, but as a brother beloved ;" adding, no 
doubt with reference to the purloined money, " if he have 
wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on my 
account; I will repay it" He proposes, moreover, to 
stand sponsor for his future behavior, saying, " I beseech 
thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my 
bonds ; who in time past was to thee unprofitable, but will 
now be profitable to thee and to me." As to the subse- 
quent life of Onesimus we know nothing, though tradition 
says that he became bishop of one of the Macedonian 
churches. 

It is a great thing to be profitable ; to be of some 
account in the world. " Is life worth living ?" That 
depends. If it mean simply a year in a mother's arms, 
and a year or two more with doll or rocking-horse, and a 
few more years with primer and spelling-book, then the 
pleasures of youth, dreams and aspirations; then the 
delights and responsibilities of social and business life, 
cares, crow's feet, laughter, tears, " the whips and scorns 
of time," the almond-tree blossoming, the grasshopper a 



276 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

burden, eyes dim, shoulders bowed, lights out, curtains 
down, crape on the door, a handful of dust — if that be all, 
the game is not worth the candle. It is no better, as the 
great dramatist says, than "a tale told by an idiot, full of 
sound and fury, signifying nothing." 

It is a question of investment ; quid pro quo ; we shall 
get nothing out of life unless we put something into it. 

I. Our capital. What is our stock in trade ? What 
have we to invest? I and mine, you and yours, all 
that we are, with everything that we possess, must be put 
out at usury if we would live profitable lives. I am a 
tri-partite being, made up of body, intellect, and immor- 
tal soul, and all these, in this momentous transaction, 
must be wisely disposed of. 

1. The body ; a bundle of physical energies. It must 
be kept in the best possible condition that it may be put 
to the best uses. Not long ago I saw an application for a 
parsonage sent in by one of our rural ministers in which 
he said, " It is hard to make full proof of my ministry in 
such a place as this ; the roof leaks, the cellar is damp, 
and the flue does n't draw. It takes the heart all out of 
me." No tenant can do much under these conditions. 
The body was intended to be the temple of divinity ; it 
must be kept in good order, as a part of our working 
capital, if we would derive a substantial profit from it. 

2. The mind ; endowed with regal gifts. Not all are 
equally gifted, but in the distribution of his talents the 
Master has entrusted " to every man according to his sev- 
eral ability." The man with a single talent is as for- 
tunate as is the other with ten, for power is always accom- 
panied by commensurate responsibility. To put out our 
talents at usury, whether they be few or many, is to quit 
ourselves like men. At this point we observe a lament- 



A PROFITABLE LIFE. 277 

able waste. Was ever a man more richly endowed than 
Lord Byron ? yet he squandered his gifts, and died at 
thirty-seven lamenting, 

" My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flowers and fruits of love are gone, 
The worm, the canker, and the grief 
Are mine alone." 

Was ever a genius more highly gifted than Edgar Allen 
Poe ? Yet he also wasted his substance, and died in the 
prime of his manhood lamenting, 

"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door ; 
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the 
floor 

Shall be lifted — nevermore /" 

3. The immortal soul. Here is the residence of our 
likeness to God. It is in the use of our spiritual faculties 
that we commune with our Creator and face the great 
problems which reach out into the eternal ages. When 
Lysimachus, overcome by thirst, had bartered his king- 
dom for a cup of water, he cried out, " Oh, wretch that I 
am, to sell my glory for a moment's comfort !" How much 
more foolish is the man who, in the pursuit of things that 
perish with the using, forfeits his higher life. No problem 
was ever suggested so important as this : " What shall it 
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 
soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul?" 

4. Our time. In this all are blest alike, for each has 
all there is of it. How easily the words Tembus fugit fall 
from the schoolboy's lips ; yet, what a tremendous truth 
they tell. Time flies ! Aye, never to return. We turn 
the hour-glass over and its sands run through again, but a 



278 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

wasted hour cannot be treated in that way. Lost wealth 
may be regained by patient industry ; lost health by the 
use of proper remedies and due regard to nature's laws ; 
lost reputation by penitence and right living; but time 
lost is gone for ever. In vain did the dying Queen of 
England cry, " Millions for an inch of time !" The part 
of wisdom is to use each passing hour so as to realize the 
most from it. 

5. Our acquisitions. If we have wealth, we have a 
burden of responsibility with it. If we have knowledge, 
that " is power "; but as Adam Smith said, "Power, to 
the last atom, is responsibility. ,, If we have moral con- 
victions, they also are a part of our working capital and 
eternity depends on their wise use. All men have moral 
convictions, but few are enriched by their full benefits. 
William E. Dodge believed in God and immortality, in 
the holy Sabbath, and in the duty of right living. When 
he visited Fortress Monroe in company with President 
Lincoln and other dignitaries he did not hesitate at the 
banquet to turn down his glass. He withdrew from the 
Union League Club when it became the customary thing 
for that association to serve intoxicating drinks. He re- 
signed his directorship in three railways because they ran 
Sunday trains. Other men have like convictions, but not 
many are so scrupulous in their loyalty to them. 

II. This, then, is our capital : ourselves, with our time 
and acquisitions. Now, then, arises the question, What 
shall we do with it ? or How shall we invest it ? 

1. We may play the miser zvith it. In an old rookery 
in Harlem an aged man was recently found dead. His 
life had been passed in poverty and rigid abstinence ; yet, 
when his home was searched, money was found in every 
nook and cranny ; beneath his mattress, under his hearth, 



A PROFITABLE LIFE. 279 

bank-notes, bonds and mortgages, gold and silver coin in 
abundance. But what better were they than scraps of 
paper or iron pyrites? He had been no happier for 
them, the world had been no better for them. 

2. We may use our capital as spendthrifts do. Let 
me speak in a familiar parable : A well-dressed youth en- 
tered an inn and made merry with gamesters and revellers 
all day. At evening, having paid his reckoning, he rose, 
and calling upon his comrades to follow him led the way 
to the river which flowed near by. Meanwhile he had 
called upon the musicians to play their merriest while he 
and his companions sang and danced down to the water's 
edge. He waded in, emptying his purse and throwing its 
contents out upon the shore. They thought it a strange 
diversion until he cried, " Good night !" and plunged be- 
neath the water. A fool, do you say ? Aye, but not 
more a fool than he who in like manner spends his life. 
For was not that day's folly an apologue of many a wasted 
life ? We see the picture all the better for getting it into 
the focus of a single day. 

3. We may use our capital as wise and faithful stew- 
ards. For, indeed, we are not our own; we belong to 
God by a double right — the right of creation and the right 
of purchase ; for ye are bought with a price, not silver and 
gold, but the precious blood of Jesus, as of a lamb with- 
out blemish and without spot. Nor are our time and our 
acquisitions our own, but merely entrusted to us for wise 
investment. And if wisely invested whose are the divi- 
dends? 1. Our own, to begin with. It is our prime 
duty to make the most of ourselves. All that we are and 
all that we have are to be so used as to turn to our own 
advantage in the building up of character and influence. 
It is thus that we gain a hundred-fold here, and in the 



280 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

time to come life everlasting. The great Edmund Burke 
had a brother, Richard, who was a ne'er-do-weel. After 
one of his wonderful speeches in the House of Commons 
an auditor said to this brother, " How is it that Edmund 
seems to have monopolized the talents of the family ?" 
"Oh," he said, "while we were going hither and yon he 
was ever at work." It is not a question of diversity of 
gifts, but simply of right use. In this world nobody has 
a right to be nobody. 2. The dividends of our good 
investment accrue to others also. We are to use our- 
selves and our acquisitions for the good of those around 
us. This is to live like the ideal Man of whom it is writ- 
ten, "He went about doing good ;" and there is abundant 
opportunity for this. Of all the multitude with whom we 
mingle there is not one who has not his burdens and 
heartaches. It is but the part of a true man to desire to 
lighten these burdens and to sweeten the lives of all. 
Sidney Smith said, " I have been making a calculation : 
if I make one person happy every day for ten years, I 
shall have made three thousand six hundred and fifty per- 
sons happy ; that is, I shall have brightened a small town 
by my contribution to the fund of general joy." 3. The 
supreme and ultimate glory of a wise investment of our- 
selves and our possessions is God's. " The chief end of man 
is to glorify God." He is the owner of the talents, and 
they are to be invested for him. To question this fact is 
to form an inadequate conception of the purpose of life. 
The consummation of right living is reached when we can 
come to our Master, saying, "Lord, here is thy pound ; it 
hath gained thee yet another pound." And the full fru- 
ition of life is reached when we hear him say, " Well done, 
good servant ! Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things." 



A PROFITABLE LIFE. 28 1 

Have we been forgetting God ? Have we been leav- 
ing him out of the reckoning ? This would be a dismal 
mistake, and fraught with infinite and eternal failure. 
When the Earl of Rochester had reached the end of his 
unscrupulous life he cried, " Oh, would that I had been 
a blind beggar or a leper rather than to have lived in the 
midst of glorious possibilities and forgotten God !" Here 
is the beginning and end of all — God ! In the picture of 
the creation of man on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel 
the man is represented as lying upon a mossy mound 
reaching up his hand towards another stretched down 
from heaven, and from the hand of the Creator an electric 
spark is passing into him. The beginning of life is in- 
deed to be thrilled through by the life of God ; and this is 
the beginning of spiritual quickening. This is life eter- 
nal, to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent: 
to become partaker of his sublime purpose in the better- 
ment of the race ; to enter into his great hopes and aspi- 
rations ; to live for him ! 



2$2 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 



WHO IS THIS THAT COMETH FROM 
EDOM ? 



"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from 
Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the 
greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, 
mighty to save." Isa. 63: i. 

The Israelites were compassed about by enemies : the 
Syrians on the north, the Philistines along the maritime 
plain, the Edomites on the south, were a constant menace 
to their peace ; but the Edomites were their most trouble- 
some foes. The old feud between Jacob and Esau had 
passed on from generation to generation with unabated 
force. It was the Edomites who most vigorously opposed 
the entrance into Canaan. It was the Edomites who, by 
their alliance with Babylon, ultimately effected the exile. 
Herod, who ordered the slaughter of the innocents, and 
Herod Antipas, who was coparcener in the murder of the 
Messiah, were both Idumeans. The greatness of this 
people is certified at this day by thirty ruined towns with- 
in three days' journey of the Dead Sea. They were 
Israel's nearest foe, ever hovering on their borders. A 
Jew wandering into their territory was certain to be cap- 
tured. The flocks and herds of Israel were their com- 
mon prey. The harvest and the vintage were seasons of 
special danger from this quarter. Indeed, there was 
scarcely an hour when Israel felt secure. Their land had 
been desolated until it was like a lodge in a garden of 
cucumbers. 

The prophet, looking down one of the gorges towards 



WHO IS THIS THAT COMETH FROM EDOM ? 283 

the Dead Sea, saw an heroic figure drawing near upon the 
heights. He was glorious in apparel, travelling in the 
greatness of his strength. As he drew nearer it was 
seen that his garments were red with blood, as of one 
treading the wine-fat. " Who is this," cried the prophet, 
"that cometh from Edom with garments dyed in blood?" 
An important question for us, as for Israel in the olden 
time. Who is this Mighty One whose figure was pro- 
jected upon the foreground of history so long ago? Our 
sins dwell, like the Edomites, upon our border. They 
lay gins and snares for our wandering feet ; they fall upon 
us in our unwary hours : once over the border we are 
lost. Who shall deliver us from our nearest foe ? The 
Mighty One draws near upon the heights for us ; he has 
gone over into the land of Edom, the country of our sins. 
For us he has trodden the wine-press. This is our cham- 
pion and defender returning from his strife with the adver- 
sary. This is the only-begotten Son of God. 

I. He is our avenger ; his garments are stained with 
the blood of his enemies and ours. " I looked," he says, 
" and there was none to help and I wondered that there 
was none to uphold ; therefore my own arm brought sal- 
vation unto me, and my fury it upheld me." 

1. Observe, there is fury in this triumphant Son of 
God. His name is Love? Aye. But he has also 
another name : A consuming fire. Indeed, the capability 
of love involves the capacity for wrath. The man who is 
so complacent in love and tenderness as that he can feel 
in his inmost heart no fiery wrath against crime and 
injustice is but a poor semblance of a true man. In like 
manner the God who, loving the things that are pure and 
lovely and of good report, should not hate the converse, 
would not be worthy of our adoration. Nor is this " an 



284 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Old Testament conception. " The God of the Old Econ- 
omy is also the God of the New; the same yesterday, 
to-day and for ever, with whom is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning. The indignation that flamed forth in 
the imprecatory Psalms against the powers of darkness 
is the same that flashed from the pure lips of Jesus when 
he denounced hypocrisy, crying, " How shall ye escape 
the damnation of hell !" We stand under the opening of 
the sixth seal of the apocalypse, and lo ! the sun becomes 
black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon is as blood ; the 
stars of heaven fall to the earth as a fig-tree casteth 
her untimely figs when shaken before the wind; the 
heavens are rolled together as a parched scroll ; and the 
earth rumbles under our feet ; then kings and potentates, 
rich and mighty, masters and bondmen, hide themselves 
in sudden panic, crying to the mountains and the rocks, 
" Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sitteth 
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb /" Aye; 
from the wrath of that merciful One, the meek and lowly 
Jesus, the Lamb of God. 

2. Observe, this fury is against sin. In all the universe 
this is the only thing that God hates, and he hates it with 
an implacable fury. Why not ? What has sin wrought 
upon the earth ? If a malicious vandal had entered the 
workshop of. the sculptor Phidias and broken into frag- 
ments his master-piece, the beautiful Apollo, would he 
have witnessed it with complacency, think you ? Sin has 
ruined God's master-piece. It has discrowned man ; it 
has blinded him to the beauty of all spiritual things ; it 
has corrupted his heart, perverted his conscience, enfee- 
bled his intellect, and paralyzed his will ; it has placed 
the poisoned chalice at his lips crying, " Drink and die !" 
If God is indeed our Father, why should he not hate sin ? 



WHO IS THIS THAT COMETH FROM EDOM ? 285 

And why should he not go over into the land of Edom to 
avenge the wrong which it has inflicted upon us ? Here 
is the rationale of the Incarnation : it is God in the per- 
son of Jesus Christ going over into the territory of the 
enemy to champion our cause. 

3. For, observe, this manifestation of fury against sin 
is wholly in our behalf. The English were shut up in 
Lucknow; men, women and children were famishing 
there. The enemy, unspeakably cruel and implacable, 
had besieged the city. Off yonder on the heights was 
heard the shrill sound of the bagpipes. Havelock with 
his brave Scotchmen was coming to the rescue ; but, alas ! 
between Lucknow and those hills were the Sepoys. What 
shall become of the Sepoys ? The rescuers draw near, 
their swords flash, their guns belch forth death, and the 
road from those hills to the beleagured city is covered 
with the slain. Thus the only-begotten Son of God 
comes to deliver us, but deliverance is not possible except 
by the overthrow of Edom. Thus it comes about that 
his garments are stained with blood. 

" The wine-press ! The wine-press ! The voice is from God ; 
The floor of his fury is now to be trod, 
The sins of all nations are full to o'erflowing 
And the blast of th' avenger from heaven is blowing ; 
In the red robe of scourging triumphant he stands, 
And blots out our sentence with blood in his hands I" 

II. Thus the avenger comes as our Saviour. He 
avenges that he may save. God so hated sin that he 
sent his only-begotten Son to deliver us from the shame 
and bondage of it; as it is written, " His name shall be 
called Jesus, because he shall save his people from their 
sins." 

1. As he draws near upon the heights of Edom he is 



286 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

alone ; he trod the wine-press alone and there was none 
with him. In Oriental lands the vintage is the occasion 
of great rejoicing. From near and far the neighbors 
come, and encourage one another by shouting and sing- 
ing while treading out the grapes. Not so, however, in 
the vintage of redemption; our Saviour trod it alone. 
As he entered the shadows of the olive grove he said to 
his disciples, " Tarry ye here, while I go yonder ;" and 
there was none with him when he put the purple cup of 
death to his lips. As he entered the judgment-hall they 
all forsook him and fled. At Calvary he was so utterly 
alone that he must needs cry, " My God ! my God ! why 
hast thou forsaken me ?" The work was wholly his, in- 
somuch that any sinner who shall receive the benefit of 
his redemption must give him the sole glory, saying, 
" Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name !" 

2. He cometh in the greatness of his strength. The 
stress of the mighty conflict in Edom has not wearied him. 
A few days ago we witnessed a procession of veterans 
of our Civil War. How few among them had returned 
scathless from the high places of the field ! There were 
many who limped as they passed by ; there were many 
who bore the scars of battle; there was scarcely one 
who walked in the fulness of his strength. But the strife 
of Calvary has not impaired the omnipotence of God's 
well-beloved Son. He is the mighty to save. His step 
is firm, his arm is strong, the dew of his youth is upon 
him. 

3. He speaks in righteousness. In delivering us 
from Edom he has violated no principle of justice or 
equity. The great problem was, How shall God be 
just and yet the justifier of the ungodly ? He solved 
it by taking our place before the offended law ; he paid 



WHO IS THIS THAT COMETH FROM EDOM ? 287 

the ransom ; he expiated our offences : " He was wounded 
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, 
and by his stripes we are healed." 

But " how can the innocent suffer for the guilty ?" (1) 
It is done every day. The suffering of the innocent for 
the guilty is the commonest thing about us. Kings suffer 
for their subjects, parents for their children ; we are all 
suffering for others' sins. (2) It is a recognized principle 
in Common Law, else why should I be taxed for the 
maintenance of prisons and reformatories? (3) And 
who indeed has the right to object to this arrangement? 
There are three parties to the covenant of grace: the 
Father, who is willing to send forth his Son to suffering 
and death in the sinner's behalf; the Son, who is willing 
to go, saying, " Here am I, send me ;" and the sinner, 
" the party of the third part :" it remains only for him to 
give his assent by accepting the plan, and then who is 
there in all the universe who shall have the right to ob- 
ject to it ? 

4. He comes in glorious apparel. His blood-stained 
garments, as he draws nearer, are seen to be royal pur- 
ple. In championing the cause of a sinful race he has 
established his right to rule over them. The crowning 
day is coming. The earth shall yet be filled with the 
acclamations of heaven : " Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." We our- 
selves shall join in praising him who, glorious with the 
victory wrought in the land of Edom, sitteth upon the 
throne, high and lifted up, saying, " Unto him that loved 
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; 
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever." 



288 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

In this prophetic vision of the Redeemer we have out- 
lined the only plan which has ever been proposed for the 
deliverance of the human race. There is none other 
name under heaven given among men whereby we must 
be saved ; the Mighty One appeals to us in our own be- 
half, offering the full benefits of the vintage for naught. 

At the burning of the Newhall House, in Milwaukee, 
a young man of my congregation was awakened from his 
sleep on one of the upper floors to find every avenue of 
escape cut off. He climbed to the window ledge, and 
holding by the sash looked down and called for help ; 
but the ladders were too short. There was not a fire- 
man, there was not a soul in the multitude that thronged 
the streets who was not moved with the utmost desire 
to help, but no help was possible. At length he hung 
from the ledge by his finger tips ; hung for a little while, 
then dropped, while those below covered their eyes, and 
all was over. Not less desperate than his condition when 
hanging from that ledge is the state of the sinner outside 
of the plan of salvation, but Jesus is mighty to save ; able 
to save to the uttermost all that will believe in him. 
The ladder of his love is long enough to reach from be- 
neath ; the arm of his omnipotence is mighty enough to 
reach down from above; his promise is "Yea" and 
" Amen." Why then shall any be lost ? His sacrifice is 
sufficient to cover all the record of the misspent past. 
His hands are stretched out still. This is a faithful say- 
ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that he came into the 
world to save sinners ; and this also is a faithful say- 
ing, He that believeth on Jesus, the only begotten Son 
of God, hath everlasting life. 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 289 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 



11 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he 
cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be over- 
thrown." Jonah 3:4. 

A solitary traveller, of serious countenance, clad in 
a sheep-skin mantle bound with a hempen girdle about 
the loins, is pursuing his way from Palestine towards the 
northeast. He crosses the Jordan and climbs the heights 
beyond; then onward past the gates of old Damascus; 
onward through many weary days until, to his backward 
gaze, the peaks of anti-Lebanon have faded into the blue 
distance ; then across the Euphrates, and still onward. 
The roads are broader now ; there are signs of increased 
wealth and luxury ; the weary traveller passes many a 
chariot and loaded wain, until at last he comes within 
sight of great Nineveh. Yonder are its walls — sixty miles 
in circumference, a hundred feet in height, and broad 
enough for three chariots to go abreast. He sees the 
glowing pinnacles of the temples of Bel and Nebo ; ban- 
ners are waving from a hundred towers ; the broad roads 
are lined on each side with winged lions leading to the 
gates. 

As the prophet draws near he stands still, overwhelmed 
with a feeling of reluctance. It is not fear ; his sense of 
duty is strong enough to overcome all that. But he goes 
to preach repentance and pardon to the Ninevites. Is it 
strange that he is loth to enter yonder gate ? He has 
been accustomed to think of Israel as God's chosen peo- 

Beligiou of the Future. I Q 



290 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

pie, and of these Ninevites as dogs of Gentiles. More- 
over, they have been from time immemorial the foes of 
Israel. His own home at Gath-hepher had been spoiled 
by these invaders. He hated them. He had gladly heard 
the prophet Joel say that they should be " trodden in the 
wine-press of the wrath of God. ,, But now he must enter 
and preach mercy to them. He had refused the commis- 
sion at first ; but after the discipline of many sorrows the 
Voice had spoken again : " Go unto Nineveh, that great 
city, and preach the preaching which I shall bid thee." 
He would fain escape from his task, but duty constrains 
him. He enters the great gate and straightway lifts his 
voice: "Yet forty days, yet forty days, and Nineveh 
shall be destroyed !" All day long, up and down the 
streets, in the shadow of the temples, before the palace 
door, " Yet forty days, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall 
be destroyed !" The people look out of their doorways 
and hearken to the weird cry ; nobles stop their chariots 
and gaze with wonder : " Yet forty days, yet forty days, 
and Nineveh shall be destroyed !" 

Observe, with reference to this sertnon, (1) its brevity. 
Here are only eight words: only five in the original. 
There is no exordium nor peroration; there are no prac- 
tical reflections. This is a sermon constructed after Lu- 
ther's rule : " Stand up cheerfully, speak up manfully, 
leave off speedily." It is possible, however, to say a 
great deal in small compass. Homer's Iliad was once 
written in a nutshell. When Caesar reported to Amintius 
his own campaign of conquest it was in three words : 
" Veni, vidi, vici /" Just before the fall of Richmond a 
telegram was received from Gen. Sheridan concluding 
thus : " If the thing is pressed I believe Lee will sur- 
render ;" to which the President replied, " Let it be 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 29 1 

pressed." Brevity is the soul of wisdom as it is the 
soul of wit. 

2. Observe its perfect frankness. The Lord had said 
to Jonah, " Go preach the preaching that I shall bid thee." 
He had no alternative. The doom had been passed upon 
that great city, and it was his business to admonish the 
people. The minister of the gospel in these days is under 
equally explicit orders. He is enjoined to declare the 
exceeding sinfulness of sin : to show that death comes 
following after ; to declare the glad tidings that God has 
been pleased to make atonement for our sins; and to 
state with perfect clearness that the only hope and deliv- 
erance is in accepting the atonement of Jesus Christ, as it is 
written, " There is none other name under heaven, given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." This is the 
message, and the minister who refuses to deliver it in un- 
mistakable terms is false to his divine commission. " Thus 
saith the Lord, If I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely 
die, and thou givest him not warning, he shall die in his 
sins, but his blood shall I require at thy hand." It is so 
easy to preach smooth things, and the downright truth 
is so old-fashioned, and the people have itching ears, and 
the " larger hope " is so popular ! No matter ; the 
preacher must be an honest man, and to be an honest 
man he must declare the whole counsel of God. 

3. Mark its directness. Jonah mentioned no names, 
yet every arrow in his quiver reached its mark. It is not 
necessary that the proclamation of the gospel should be 
offensively personal. Such is its adaptation to the uni- 
versal want of the race that no man can hear it faithfully 
proclaimed without saying, " That means me." Paul in 
the judgment-hall at Caesarea reasoned of righteousness 
and temperance and judgment to come. Felix sat yon- 



292 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

der with his paramour, Drusilla, beside him, and hearing 
the apostle set forth those tremendous truths he trem- 
bled, because he knew that in them judgment was pro- 
nounced against him. Sermo means a thrust. The people 
of Nineveh, hearing that their city was to be destroyed, 
must all with one accord have begun to ask within them- 
selves, "What, then, will become of me?" This is the 
divine glory of the gospel. Its truths are of the most sol- 
emn importance to all sorts and conditions of men. It 
was this fact that moved Coleridge to say, " I believe that 
the Bible is inspired because it finds me" 

4. This sermon was dogmatic. We are blamed for 
dogmatizing in these days. But what else can we do? 
Our opinions in the pulpit are not of vital consequence ; 
you must needs put them to the test, and receive or 
reject them upon their merits. But when we declare the 
divine message it must ever be "yea" and "amen." 
The introduction of doubtful phrases into the great truths 
robs them of all vital power ; as if it were written, The 
soul that sinneth it may die ; or, God so loved the world 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him need not necessarily perish but may possi- 
bly have eternal life ; or, Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and perhaps I will give you rest ; or, 
Ask, and peradventure ye shall receive ; seek, and ye may 
find ; knock, and mayhap it shall be opened unto you. 
Could we find life and immortality in a gospel set forth in 
such hypothetical phrases ? Blessed be God, his word is 
" Verily, verily." Here are no " ifs " or " perhapses." It 
has been truly said that an " if" in the proclamation of 
heavenly mercy would be as disastrous as a charge of 
dynamite under the Rock of Ages. 

We turn now to the result of Jonah's preaching. A 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 293 

sure promise attaches to the faithful preaching of the 
word : as it is written : " My word shall not return unto 
me void," saith the Lord, "but shall accomplish that 
which I please and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 
Observe (1) that the Ninevites " believed God." There 
was that in the prophet's voice, his visage, his impressive 
manner, which convinced them that his admonition was 
from above. Too often we hear a divine message as if 
the messenger were speaking for effect. Thus the people 
said of the preaching of Ezekiel, " Doth he not speak in 
parables ?" And thus the message of Christ himself was 
received by multitudes of those who heard him. The 
awful pictures which he drew of the doom which shall 
ultimately overtake the impenitent are as true as ever. 

" There is a death whose pang 
Outlasts this fleeting breath : 
Oh, what eternal horrors hang 
Around the second death !" 

It is as a fire that shall never be quenched • it is as the 
gnawing of a worm that never dies ; it is as an outer dark- 
ness without one gleam of hope for ever. When Jesus ut- 
tered these terrific truths, was he simply working on the 
people's fears ? Was he trying to scare them ? Oh, no ; the 
words were laden with tremendous sincerity. And when 
Jonah declared the doom that had passed upon Nineveh 
it was meet that the people should believe him, because 
he spoke as an ambassador of God. In like manner we, 
knowing the terror of the Lord, persuade men, and it is 
the part of wisdom to believe that the message is true. 
" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 

2. They proclaimed a fast : i. e., they repented, and 
confessed their sin. The king put on sackcloth, the whole 
city was draped in mourning, the people cast dust and 



2g4 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

ashes upon their heads, the very horses wore trappings of 
woe. The warning of the prophet had touched the hearts 
of all. No man was inclined to disguise his sorrow from 
his neighbor. We also are sinners and under like con- 
demnation. Open confession is good for the soul: "If 
we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our 
sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

3. They turned every one from his evil way. The 
evil way of Nineveh was idolatry: they had forgotten 
the true God and bowed before images. Now they turned 
from their idols to Jehovah, and they turned also " from the 
violence of their hands." This people was prone to vio- 
lence, to predatory excursion and war upon their neigh- 
bors. Now they hung up their swords and made war no 
more. Let it ever be remembered that repentance is not 
mere sorrow for sin, but also a turning from it. It is said 
that the Italian bandits come down from their mountain 
retreats at certain periods and visit the shrines in the vil- 
lage streets. They lay heaps of coin and necklaces of 
pearls, taken by violence from defenceless travellers, be- 
fore the image of the Holy Virgin; and having thus paid 
tribute to their innate sense of retribution, they climb the 
mountains again and resume their evil ways. But true 
repentance means to give up sin. This is the sorrow 
that needeth not to be repented of. If we believe in 
God's oft-repeated warnings and admonitions, let us bring 
forth fruits meet for repentance : let us give up lying, dis- 
honesty, covetousness, evil-speaking, selfishness, and what- 
soever else is offensive to the Holy One. 

4. They cast themselves on the divine mercy, saying, 
"Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn 
away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" In 
Jonah's message there was not a suggestion of mercy. 



JONAH AT NINEVEH. 295 

But they reasoned thus : " God would not have sent 
this man to admonish us, and to proclaim a forty days' 
shrift, had he not meant to avert the evil. There is, 
then, a possibility that if we turn from our iniquities 
he will pardon and save us." So there was hope in 
their sorrow ; and hope marks the difference between 
repentance and mere remorse. 

At the door of the haH Gazith the traitor hurled his 
thirty pieces of silver upon the marble floor with the 
cry, " I have betrayed innocent blood !" and rushed forth 
to hang himself above the vale of Hinnom. This was 
remorse. 

From the judgment-hall where Peter denied his Lord 
he went forth to weep bitterly ; and cherishing the memo- 
ry of his Lord's reproachful look he plucked up cour- 
age and returned to his first love. That was repent- 
ance. 

There is forgiveness with God. His warnings are to 
the end that we may repent. Look up, O stricken sinner ! 
to our God, who sitteth upon his throne of mercy. Look 
up ! is the word of the captain to his son who reels at the 
top-mast. Look up ! is the cry of the Alpine climber. 
To look down is to be overwhelmed with despair. Look 
up ! away from self, away from the discouraging environ- 
ment of temptation, away from the gloomy remembrance 
of past transgressions, up to where Christ standeth at the 
right hand of God to make intercession for us. 

And what was the outcome of all this ? The Ninevites 
were spared. God repented of the evil that he pur- 
posed to do unto them, and he did it not. A strange ex- 
pression this. How can God repent ? Is he not the same 
yesterday, to-day and for ever? Yes; but not with the 
stolid unchangeableness of a stone idol ; i. e., no eyes to 



296 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

see, no heart to pity, no arms to reach forth towards the 
sorrowing. God's turning is a part of his eternal purpose ; 
he always intended to save the Ninevites when they 
should forsake their sins. It looks like repentance on his 
part, but the narrator speaks after the manner of a man. I 
look from the window of a boat on the river and it seems 
to me as if the shore were moving; it is I, however, who 
am moving, while the shore stands still. Thus God seems 
to repent when the sinner repents and turns to righteous- 
ness. He is ever ready thus to bestow his pardoning 
grace on those who call upon him. 

" Depth of mercy, can there be 
Mercy still reserved for me? 
Can my God his wrath forbear ? 

Me, the chief of sinners, spare ? 
* ■& * * * * 

" There for me the Saviour stands, 
Shows his wounds and spreads his hands ; 
God is love : I know, I feel ; 
Jesus lives, and loves me still.'" 



THE NINEVITES IN JUDGMENT. 297 



THE NINEVITES IN JUDGMENT. 



u The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, 
and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching 
of Jonas ; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." Matt. 
12:41. 

A short sermon with a long sequel. Nearly a thou- 
sand years have passed since Jonah cried through the 
streets of Nineveh, " Yet forty days, yet forty days, and 
Nineveh shall be destroyed !" and, lo, the echoes of that 
sermon are lingering still ! 

A word is an immortal thing. It is said that in twenty 
hours from its utterance the vibrations of sound have 
reached the entire volume of the atmosphere ; thus our 
world, with its airy envelope, is a great whispering-gallery. 
Vows, prayers, songs of praise, the mutterings of idiocy, 
curses and blessings, Ebal and Gerizim, the wail of the 
processions that bore the Pharaohs to their tombs, the 
shouts of the triumphal procession of Titus bearing the 
golden candlestick of the Temple through the streets of 
Rome, all linger for ever. 

In the company of those who listened to the preaching 
of Jesus were many captious scribes and Pharisees who 
ever clamored for a sign. He would not humor them. 
He is ever ready to answer a serious question, but makes 
no contribution to mere curiosity. They were an evil and 
adulterous generation, he said, and they should have no 
sign beyond what was already given ; to wit, the sign of 
the prophet Jonah. The story of the old prophet, his 



298 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

three days in darkness and his marvellous deliverance, 
had been given them as a foregleam of a glorious truth 
yet to be revealed. The miracle of the resurrection of 
Jesus was the key-stone of the gospel arch. Three days 
in the belly of hell, and then life and immortality brought 
to light. On this our Lord based the truth of his divine 
character and ministry. If they would not believe their 
Scriptures neither would they believe though one rose 
from the dead. They had abundant proof; they had 
lived in the very atmosphere of prophecy, they had the 
oracles, and angel voices had spoken to them. Oh, the 
responsibility of privilege ! The men of Nineveh, to 
whom Jonah had preached his simple sermon, had be- 
lieved and turned from their sins ; but these cavilling 
Jews, ever clamoring for a sign, were absolutely hardened 
against the truth. Their wasted privileges would be their 
doom. The men of Nineveh would stand forth against 
them in the judgment because they had hearkened to the 
preaching of Jonah, and, behold, a greater than Jonah was 
here. 

The Ninevites, then, were not dead. Their city was 
buried long ago. The Lord said (700 B. C.) by the lips 
of his prophet Nahum, " I will make thy grave." The 
great metropolis, proud, luxurious, fell at last under the 
burden of its sins, and was buried like a worn-out volup- 
tuary. Its splendid halls became the haunt of owls and 
jackals. Naught remains of it at this day but a mass oi 
magnificent ruins to attest its former glory. 

And their gods also were dead. Time was when 
kings bowed down before them, when conquerers brought 
garlands and hung about their necks, when men and 
women poured out the story of their agony before them ; 
but now the winged bulls of old Nineveh may be seen in 



THE NINEVITES IN JUDGMENT. 299 

the British Museum, in the midst of great London — bulls 
with human faces bearing a mystified look, as if bewil- 
dered with the roar and hurry of modern life. Dead now, 
and none so poor to do them reverence. But the men of 
Nineveh still live on in the influence of their mighty deeds. 
The oldest burying-ground in the world is where they lie 
in stone-lined chambers by the side of the great river. 
They were buried with their hands stretched out towards 
dishes of food and weapons and implements of toil, as il 
to speak of a life beyond. They were buried with their 
faces towards the west, towards the sunset ; but the set- 
ting of the sun prophesies the rising thereof. There is no 
night without a morning; the shadows gather, there is 
silence under the stars, then the night breaks. 

In 1842 the antiquarian Botta, while digging among 
the ruins of this old metropolis, came upon a massive 
structure which he rightly supposed to be the palace of 
Sennacherib. The top of the wall was lined with sculp- 
tured slabs written all over in cuneiform characters. Here 
also were prisms and tablets and cylinders and volumes 
of the past, books of science, grammars, and dictionaries. 
Here were royal decrees and deeds of sale. Here was the 
last will and testament of King Sennacherib. Here the 
mighty thoughts of the past were stereotyped. This was 
the royal library. The clay that was packed upon these 
volumes had so sealed them from the atmosphere that on 
being exhumed they were as fresh as if written yesterday. 
As- we stand among these venerable records it is as if the 
dead were living before us — Sargon, Rabshakeh, Assur- 
banipal, Tiglath-pileser ; here they are lifting their cups 
in wassail or flashing their swords before us. 

But the Ninevites live not merely in influence, but in 
an actual existence somewhere in the spirit world. This 



300 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

is not the time to dwell upon the argument for immortal- 
ity ; it is enough that the men of Nineveh, in common 
with all nations, received it. Here is a universal tenet : 
there is no death ; the king of terrors has no power over 
an immortal man. He may destroy the house we live in ; 
he can break its bones and burn its flesh and scatter its 
ashes ; but, after all, he can do no more than drive its ten- 
ant out. What we call death is mere eviction. While 
death destroys the dwelling its tenant stands yonder upon 
some hillside looking on. 

And the men of Nineveh are to appear again ; they 
shall stand forth in judgment — in judgment ! A stupend- 
ous fact. We shall behold them in that day. 

i. The judgment is coming. The Scriptures abound 
in references to " that great day." I can remember the 
call of the court crier from the steps of the old Court 
House, " Oyez ! oyez!" in the frontier village long ago, 
and they could be seen coming from tavern and along the 
streets, jurors, litigants, lawyers, and hangers-on, all to 
attend the court. So shall the trumpet sound and the 
dead shall arise ; from the sea, from the land, they shall 
come to the great assize. All will be there : souls slain 
in battle, the slaughtered innocents, popes and victims of 
the Inquisition, the poor wretch who was dragged out of 
the river yesterday, the millionaire who died with his 
hand clutching his wealth wrung from widows and or- 
phans, formal professors, the cultured infidels of Christen- 
dom, the multitudes who died in the darkness of barbar- 
ism, the men of Nineveh and the men of New York, all 
will be there. Oh, the sea of faces ! 

2. The judgment is a necessary factor in the moral 
economy of the universe. There is but a faint show of jus- 
tice in the present administration of affairs — all things 



THE NINEVITES IN JUDGMENT. 301 

awry, at odds and ends. The poor are cast down and the 
wicked exalted. Rewards go where penalties should fall, 
and vice versa. Can we suppose this to be the end? 
Everywhere else in the universe, save in the moral prov- 
ince, there is a perfect equilibrium ; the sun draws no 
more water from the sea than the lakes can receive and 
the rivers carry back again to the sea. If the pressure of 
the atmosphere were a trifle more or less the earth would 
fall into fragments. A little less heat and the earth would 
be frozen ; a little more and it would be burned up. A 
little more electricity in the air and our system would be 
a magazine of destructive forces. But everything in the 
physical world is just right. Must we not believe that 
there is to be a final adjustment in the province of moral 
things ? Ay ; the heavens shall be rolled back and yon- 
der will sit the Judge upon his throne. In his hand a * 
great book, and the book shall be opened. The ledger ! 
Then will come the evening-up, to every one his due. 

3. The judgment will be administered in absolute equi- 
ty. Here we misunderstand each other ; we judge by the 
sight of our eyes. 

" Who made the heart, 'tis He alone 
Decidedly can try us ; 
He knows each chord — its various tone, 
Each spring- — its various bias." 

All things will enter into consideration: our nature, 
temperament, our heredity, environment, training, tempta- 
tion; nothing will be forgotten then. And as no false 
sentence will be possible, so there can be no complaint or 
plea for a new trial. Those to whom the Judge shall say, 
" Depart !" will unite with those to whom he says, u Come, 
ye blessed !" in ascribing to him an absolute fairness. 
11 The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 



302 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

altogether." Then we shall understand the strange prov- 
idences that so puzzle us now. We shall see the divine 
goodness above all. As Whittier sings, 

" God's ways seem dark, but soon or late 
They touch the shining hills of day." 

4. One important factor in the ultimate decisions of 
the great day will be the measure of our light. We are 
moved to ask, " What is to become of the heathen ? 
Are they to be cast into hell for not accepting the gospel 
which they never heard?" Oh, no. They shall be re- 
sponsible only for their measure of light and shall be pun- 
ished only for not living up to it ; as it is written, " To 
whom much is given, of them shall much be required." 

I see a group of rabbis drawing near wearing their 
broad phylacteries and frontlets on which is written, 
" Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord !" and 
saying to the Judge, "What hast thou for us?" And 
while they wait the penitent thief draws near, saying, " I 
saw the Redeemer but once and my heart was smitten. I 
repented and believed in him." And to this man the 
Judge shall say, " Enter into the kingdom of thy Lord." 

I see a procession of vestal virgins drawing near, who 
say, " We kept the sacred fires alive ; we illuminated mis- 
sals and breviaries; we sang the matins and vespers. 
What hast thou for us ?" And yonder the Magdalene 
draws near with downcast face, saying, " I heard thee as 
thou wast preaching in the streets, saying, ' Come unto 
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest ;' and with my burden of sin and shame upon 
me I came and anointed thy feet." And at her word the 
room seems filled with the odor of the precious nard and 
the Judge says, " Enter into the joy of thy Lord." 

An army of Crusaders draws near. They bear the scars 



THE NINEVITES IN JUDGMENT. 303 

of service ; they say, " We fought for the rescue of the 
Holy Sepulchre and made battle beneath the walls of 
Acre. What hast thou for us ?" A little lad draws near, 
modestly saying, " I had the basket of loaves and fishes, 
and when thy disciples said, ' Give it for the hunger of 
the multitude/ I freely gave it." And the Judge bids 
him also " Enter into the joy of thy Lord." 

Here are a multitude of nominal Christians, their 
names on the church-roll as members in good and regu- 
lar standing, and they say, " Lord, we lived in the shadow 
of the sanctuary, sat at the sacramental table, said our 
prayers and paid our tithes with strict regularity. What 
hast thou for us ?" And, lo, here come the men of Nine- 
veh : " We heard thy prophet once ; we heard his warn- 
ing of approaching danger; we believed that to the peni- 
tent thou wouldst be merciful ; we bowed ourselves in 
sorrow before thee and besought thy pardon." And to 
these the Judge says, " Enter into the joy of thy Lord." 

Oh, the surprises of that day ! There will be many 
passing through heaven's gate who are lit along the way 
by a single rushlight, and there will be many who, despite 
an unspeakable wealth of privilege, shall be shut out for 
ever. Do we ask, " What is to become of the heathen ?" 
A far more pertinent question is this : " What is to be- 
come of you and me?" It is greatly to be feared that 
Zulus, Bechuanas and Hottentots will point their fingers at 
some of us in that day. We were ushered into the world 
with prayer. We were soothed to sleep with sacred 
melodies. We were taught to say, " Our Father which 
art in heaven ;" to read our Bibles ; to revere our con- 
fessions of faith. The sound of the church bell has 
ever been in our ears. We have lived under the 
shadow of the cross, yet some of us have never accepted 



304 THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. 

Christ, preferring to bear the burden of our own sin. 
Oh ! what is to become of us ? 

And now one more privilege : this sermon has in it 
the possibility of eternal good or evil. The sunbeam 
that falls with nourishing power upon a living bud, to 
bring forth beauty and fragrance from it, brings doom to 
a stem detached from the tree. So is it with every dis- 
course. It has a savor of life unto life, or death unto 
death. I lift up Christ again to-day, saying to you, a sin- 
ner, " He died for you, and he that believeth in Christ 
hath everlasting life." In this brief message is the possi- 
bility of eternal felicity. I pray you hear it. 



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